In need of films and audiences, cinemas do not give up hope

" It's harder than imagined ": a month after their reopening, without blockbusters and with two-thirds empty theaters, the cinemas still want to believe in it.

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On Wednesday, weekly attendance, driven in particular by the comedy Divorce Club by Michaël Youn, passed the milestone of one million admissions. But this is still insufficient: it is three times less than normal.

At the Cinémascop Mégarama in Garat, in Charente, as in hundreds of cinemas in France, the operator Aurélie Delage makes a face. " I no longer look at the figures ", but " it should not last, " notes this manager, who no longer meets his expenses. “ People have been inside during confinement, they want to be in the open air, at the bar or in the restaurant, especially since the weather is good, ” she notes.

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The summer of 2019 and its crowds of families who came to see The Lion King are a distant memory. Like others, Aurélie Delage has even thought about closing, but clinging to attendance that shudders from week to week, she evacuates the idea: " it would be catastrophic, the public needs benchmarks ". As in the rest of France, the Garat cinema lacks " locomotives ", big releases, mostly American, likely to attract crowds.

" The cinemas, at European level, want American studios to derogate from the system of world releases " and release their blockbusters " from the summer " on the Old Continent, without waiting for the reopening of theaters on the other side of the Atlantic , explains Marc-Olivier Sebbag, General Delegate of the National Federation of French Cinemas. Will they be heard? " It is a hope, a request ... ", he adds. In the meantime, operators have learned this week the indefinite postponement of a film they are waiting for like the Messiah, the last Christopher Nolan, Tenet , scheduled first in July, then for August 12.

" Give back desire "

In this context, we must save the theaters, “the heart of the reactor ” without which “ the entire cinema sector would suffer ”, argues Mr. Sebbag, and “ we must put in place mechanisms that allow waiting ”. The art house cinema union also appealed to the government, calling for “ strong and urgent measures ”.

Little consolation, in view of the attendance, the health protocol, which requires occupying only one chair in two, does not ultimately pose a problem. Especially since the mask can be removed during the film, once installed, says Mr. Sebbag.

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Small associative theaters, without significant fixed costs, such as the historic Eden cinema in La Ciotat (Bouches-du-Rhône) where the first film of the Lumière Brothers was screened, hope to succeed: “ There is no a lot of public, but I left for a century! “Enthuses its president Michel Cornille, who has found his loyal moviegoers.

As for the films that have made the bet to come out despite everything, some can hope for an honorable career, on screens less crowded than usual. Quite Simply Black, a comedy by Jean-Pascal Zadi that dynamites racial stereotypes and communitarianism, got off to a relatively good start in July, with more than 400,000 admissions in two weeks.

" There is an offer that is not bloated at the moment, let's take advantage of it to have visibility and offer a somewhat funny comedy to people, which will make them travel ", told AFP David Caviglioli, co-director of Terrible Jungle , a parody of an adventure film with an enticing cast, where Catherine Deneuve gives the answer to Vincent Dedienne and Jonathan Cohen (released on July 29). “ At the start of the school year, our film would have been drowned in a mass of blockbusters, ” reassures its co-director Hugo Benamozig.

" There are people who are going to enjoy going back to the cinema ", bets for his part the director Mathieu Kassovitz, who brings out La Haine , a generational film on the suburbs and police violence, 25 years later.

" There are a lot of films released this summer so that people can go to the cinema and make them want again ", he told AFP, convinced that the public " is in demand for films ".

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