Las Vegas (United States) (AFP)

Shaken by the pandemic and the streaming platforms, the film industry is trying to recover and is counting on big productions like the next "Spider-Man" and a new "Ghostbusters", presented at the professional festival CinemaCon in Las Vegas, for encourage the public to return to theaters.

Last year CinemaCon, where Hollywood studios ordinarily dispatch star cohorts to flatter movie theater owners, had to be canceled due to the coronavirus.

Now that nearly 90% of North American cinemas have reopened their doors, Sony Pictures wanted to boost the morale of the troops by unveiling the trailer for "Spider-Man: No Way Home", the next installment in the superhero's adventures. leaping, then showing a preview "Ghostbusters: The Legacy", the sequel to the Ghostbusters released in 1984, strongly tinged with nostalgia.

"In the last 19 months, there has been a lot of pessimism and dark ideas," admitted Josh Greenstein, who chairs the cinema department of the giant Sony.

“But we know that movie theaters and the indoor cinema experience are going to triumph,” he said.

Sony's Monday night presentation also featured brief footage from "Bullet Train", starring Brad Pitt, and another superhero film titled "Morbius", a sequel to the series started with "Venom."

Also on the menu for the evening were excerpts from "A Journal for Jordan", directed by Denzel Washington, and a film adaptation of the successful novel "Where the Crayfish Sing" produced by Reese Witherspoon.

"Ghostbusters: The Legacy" was presented by its director Jason Reitman and his father Ivan, who had directed the initial opus almost forty years ago.

The plot still remains ultra-confidential but the new part follows the adventures of the descendants of the first ghost hunters, who take over the suit and the ectoplasm vacuum cleaner from their elders.

- "Not very bright" -

Organizers have maintained CinemaCon despite fears over the explosion of cases of the Delta variant, but a large number of stars have preferred to stay away from Las Vegas casinos despite the "sanitary pass" in place for it. 'event.

Disney is almost absent, but other traditional studios, such as Warner, Universal and Paramount, have made the trip.

Since the start of the pandemic, each of them has resorted in one way or another to video-on-demand platforms to broadcast their works, to the chagrin of cinema operators who are worried about their work. to come up.

The only major Hollywood studio without a streaming service, Sony on Monday pledged to "preserve and protect the exclusive theatrical niche" before the arrival of films on other media, eliciting heavy applause from CinemaCon participants.

"Watching films simultaneously in theaters and at home is devastating for our common industry," said Greenstein.

Its managing director, Tom Rothman, cited as an example the success of "Free Guy", a comedy produced by its competitor Disney.

Unlike the flops recently suffered by other films, "this one worked very well because on the one hand it is great, and on the other hand it is not possible to see it at home on your television", he judged.

"We're not very good in Hollywood, but we'll figure it out eventually," added Rothman.

The CinemaCon festival continues through Thursday.

© 2021 AFP