When theaters in Europe slowly reopened in mid-June, exhibitors hoped that after a few weeks of warming the public up with archival films and re-releases, they would have great new US films to attract customers. en masse in mid-summer. But successive delays by tents like Disney’s Warner Bros. “Tenet” and “Mulan,” and the scrapped theatrical release of “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run” by Paramount have left exhibitors in dire straits. .
Despite Europe’s strong local film industry, Hollywood movies tend to make up the bulk of the summer box office. Even in France, arguably the continent’s largest cinephile nation, the US image market share shoots up to at least 70% during the season, according to US analyst firm Comscore.
While there is sympathy for the unenviable position facing US studies, who fear that opening their stores amid growing cases of COVID-19 in major markets such as Texas, Florida and California will meet with Empty theaters, there is growing resentment among some international film operators that the global show business is in jeopardy over concerns about domestic releases that could still be months away.
A senior exhibitor from the UK regrets: “If the exhibition community does not have any new films in the coming months, there will be no exhibition community. For most, if not all of the great studio movies, between 70% and 80% of the entire box office is abroad, and that seems to have been forgotten. “
UK theaters were able to open on July 4, but major networks such as Vue and Cineworld, which had initially set July 10 reopening dates for their venues, delayed their deadlines after “Tenet” and “Mulan” they were delayed in late June. Both chains will now open on July 31, but that could change if the release dates change again this week, as expected.
“We are waiting to see what happens with the release dates before making a final decision, because it is different if one movie moves in front of several in motion,” says Tim Richards, CEO of Vue Intl., Which operates 91 locations in the Kingdom. United.
The exhibition giant has approximately 81 cinemas currently operating throughout continental Europe, in markets including Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland and Italy. They have all been kept open thanks to a constant diet of relaunches, but Richards points out that this is not “a long-term sustainable business model.”
“We can see the momentum and build consumer confidence, but we cannot prosper as an industry again without concerted effort on major releases,” he says. “I would like to think that, as an industry, we can see this globally, as some states in the US, China, and Europe recover, and release movies in markets that have reopened.”
Lucy Jones, Comscore’s executive director for the UK and Ireland, Italy, the Middle East and Africa, says more than 35% of European cinemas have reopened in the middle of the summer season. There is a “big appetite” for new global business, he notes, but countries are out of sync with their exit from the blockade, causing headaches for studies weighing the benefits of a global marketing campaign against maximizing local opportunities.
A source in close contact with the studios says Variety that if Warner Bros. and Disney faced a scenario in which Europe and Asia open first with “Tenet” and “Mulan”, followed by the United States a couple of weeks later, “they would do it every day of the week” . “The problem is, they don’t know when the US market will open, and they don’t feel comfortable going more than two weeks due to piracy.”
Expectations were high in France when almost all theaters in the country reopened the week of June 22. But after a standout first week, with nearly a million tickets sold, powered by the World War II biographical film starring Juliette Binoche, starring “How to Be a Good Wife.” Agnieszka Holland’s “De Gaulle” and “Mr Jones”: The box office has stagnated at approximately 35% of its usual July admissions.
So far, only four theaters out of the 2,000 that reopened in June have been closed again, “but if the situation does not evolve or worsen, we could see more theaters taking that route,” says Marc-Olivier Sebbag, FNCF spokesperson, The organization. National of French exhibitors.
“It will be a catastrophe if ‘Mulan’ and ‘Tenet’ are further delayed. We’ve been sticking to it [all odds] Because we don’t want people to forget about us, but we don’t know how long we can put up with this, “says Jocelyn Bouyssy, managing director of CGR Cinemas, the second largest multiplex chain in France.
For Nathanaël Karmitz, CEO of MK2, an art cinema chain with nearly 30 theaters in Paris and Spain, the crisis facing exhibitors due to Hollywood’s lack of box office successes has also revealed a “dangerous dependence” on content on USA And the crucial need for a strong European presence. movie theater.
The National Film Board of France launched a financial incentive in late June to encourage local distributors and producers to release their films before August 30. But only a handful of dealers, including Gaumont and Pathé, have played so far. A similar incentive is underway in Germany, according to Laura Houlgatte, CEO of the International Union of Cinemas.
The irony is that independent distributors currently have a real shot at having their films released widely to fill the void left by American studios. Comscore notes that in the past month, local images have been outclassed in France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands, among other territories, largely due to the fact that these films have had access to more screens than usual. . This access may be limited when a tide of box office hits hits the BO in a few months.
But, for most exhibitors, even a local offensive is simply not enough. “We can’t just sit back and wait,” says Peter Fornstam, CEO of Svenska Bio, whose full circuit reopens in Sweden on July 31. “We have to leave the door open and wait for the US studios to say ‘Come on.'”
