D-day has finally arrived for cinema operators. Wednesday May 19, as France begins a crucial phase of its deconfinement, the dark rooms reconnect with the public after eight months of closure. In total, since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, operators have been forced to keep their establishments closed for 300 days. A catastrophic scenario which represents a huge loss of earnings for the sector and which has caused cascading logistical problems. In addition, the reopening of theaters is the subject of a complicated arbitration between films whose exploitation was prematurely interrupted, new big productions and independent films.
To this are added draconian health measures including a room occupancy gauge set at 35% and the curfew at 9 p.m.
France 24 takes stock of the prospects for the recovery of the seventh art in France.
Historic drop in attendance
After several years of progress, French cinema broke a new attendance record in 2019 with 213 million spectators and 1.5 billion in revenue.
A surge stopped dead by the Covid-19 crisis.
According to the National Center for Cinema and Animated Image (CNC), theatrical attendance in 2020 saw a historic drop of 70%.
"The cinemas represent a very important part of the industry's revenues", explains Marc-Olivier Sebbag, deputy general delegate of the National Federation of French Cinemas (FNCF), contacted by France 24. "Certain sectors have certainly been successful. game, like VOD, video and television, but exploitation, which constitutes the heart of the revenue, was completely suspended for much of the period. "
Since the first confinement, the health crisis has caused a shortfall of 1.5 billion euros on the exploitation of films, according to estimates by the FNCF.
While cinemas were forced to close their doors for a long time, filming, interrupted in France from March 17 to May 11, 2020 during the first confinement, were able to resume quickly with reinforced health measures.
Ninety-three feature films could thus be shot in the capital in 2020, announced the Paris city hall, a decrease of only 10% compared to 2019. According to the CNC, this decrease reaches 20% nationally. .
The Diffusion Puzzle
If productions were relatively spared by the Covid-19 crisis, the challenge today is to make up for the delay in broadcasting caused by the closing of theaters. No less than 30 films are released simultaneously on Wednesday, May 19, twice as many as the average. New releases, like "Nomadland" by Chloé Zhao or "The Father" by Florian Zeller - both awarded at the Oscars -, but also films whose exploitation was interrupted by the closing of theaters, like the last Albert Dupontel, " Goodbye idiots "(nine days of operation), or Maïwenn's new film," DNA "(one day only).
While 450 films are said to be awaiting broadcast, the cinema mediator called for "a strong commitment of solidarity" from the sector to avoid tensions.
"A clutter of screens over several months is to be expected," she says.
Despite this, discussions between distributors on a concerted timetable have so far not borne fruit.
“The idea was to put all the scheduled releases flat and avoid knots,” explains a source present at the discussions, contacted by France 24. “But the divisions remain too pronounced between certain independent companies who fear that their films will be drowned in the mass and large distributors who consider on the contrary that the abundance of films is essential to bring back viewers. "
The next "capital" weeks
Maintained afloat by state aid, the film industry relies on high attendance by the public.
This is all the more crucial given that the rooms must respect a draconian sanitary protocol, but also the curfew at 9 p.m., which drastically reduces the number of sessions.
"The next few weeks will be crucial because the aid which has so far made it possible to avoid bankruptcy will gradually decrease until the end of August and must be compensated by the spectators", underlines Marc-Olivier Sebbag.
"Our only option in the current context is to restart the machine at best, hoping for a quick exit from the crisis."
Like the deputy general manager of the FNCF, many industry players fear a scenario similar to that of June 2020. The lull of the pandemic then allowed the partial reopening of theaters in July.
A recovery slower than expected which had finally turned into a fiasco in October with a new closure of cinemas.
The plan put in place today by the government provides for a gradual resumption of activity, with an increase in the attendance gauge from 35 to 50% in June, with a view to a return to normal in July.
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