For cinemas, it's the cold shower.
The introduction of the health pass on Wednesday scared spectators away.
From the first day of this measure, theaters lost 70% of their audience compared to the previous week, report Les Echos.
That's only 275,000 entries according to figures from Comscore, which monitors the French box office.
Thursday was no brighter, with an audience capping at 60% of usual traffic.
Read also: Is it legal to fire an employee without a health pass?
To visit a museum, see a film or go to the theater, you must now present a certificate of complete vaccination schedule, proof of recent infection with Covid-19, or a negative test of less than 72 hours.
Conditions difficult to fulfill, fueled by a vagueness around the places that should or should not apply the rule.
After several contradictory statements, the government finally clarified that cinemas with 49 or fewer people were not required to claim the sesame.
Read also: Arm wrestling between the Directorate General of Health and cinemas over the application of the health pass
Yet promising films
Could the drop in audience be explained by a lack of interest from viewers in the content offered? This hypothesis does not hold water. A week before the big fall,
Fast & Furious 9 was
pulling the French box office with a million admissions in the space of seven days. On Wednesday, this American blockbuster suddenly lost 90% of its audience. "
We are not talking about a simple fall, it is a real collapse
", comments to
Figaro
Eric Marti, CEO of Comscore.
The gap before and after the health pass is even more obvious when looking at the entries of the French film
Kaamelott - First part
. The feature film sold almost as many tickets during its nightly preview screenings on Tuesday, more than 200,000 admissions according to its distributor SND Films, as on its first day of broadcasting on Wednesday across the country, with several screenings. per day. In view of the multiplication of the number of screenings, the film should have reached 400,000 admissions on this single day.
Faced with this air hole, film professionals growl. Especially since the market had barely returned to a level similar to that of 2019. In a press release, members of the National Federation of Film Publishers (FNEF) ask for state intervention to economically support the industry. If a solution is not quickly brought, cinemas could display "
only a black screen
", deplores the federation.
For its part, the National Federation of French Cinemas (FNCF) is preparing for negotiations with the National Cinema Center (CNC). They wish to discuss aids similar to those applied during deconfinement, when gauges limited the entries. "
We want to discuss funding with the CNC from Monday,
" said Marc-Olivier Sebbag, general delegate of the FNCF.