The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Reopening of cinemas: "The 19th is the beginning of the return to life", believes the boss of UGC cinemas

2021-05-19T16:53:40.544Z


Emmanuel Delesse, operating director of the UGC group, is ready for the reopening of cinemas this Wednesday, with a gauge set at


The UGC group, with its 47 cinemas and 475 theaters in France, in Paris but also Lille, Caen or Bordeaux, and its flagship of the UGC Ciné Cité les Halles, the most frequented cinema in the world before the pandemic, is in order of march for this Wednesday, May 19, date of cultural resumption.

Emmanuel Delesse, the group's cinemas, boss of all theater directors, is delighted with this.

On your site, reservations are open and you encourage contactless.

But can we also go to the old-fashioned cinema, at the last moment?

EMMANUEL DELESSE.

Of course.

You can book but also buy at the last moment as before by passing in front of the terminals.

We still have counters for those who want to pay in cash.

We try to be as large as possible so that the public feels reassured.

We are extremely vigilant on all the instructions given to us.

We have greatly boosted contactless payments, with card or phone, but we like contact!

Our primary job is to meet people.

During the first reopening last summer, at big shows like "Tenet", we saw a lot of people take off their masks at the last moment.

Are you not afraid of this?

We have all learned a lot in the past year. We know how to live with this mask, it was hard at the beginning. Overall, the French accept these binding rules. I feel like we've done the hard part. Vaccination is accelerating. The 19th is the beginning of the return to life. This is only one step. I will be even happier on June 9 because we can almost live at night

(Editor's note: the curfew will be set at 11 p.m.)

. And the date that I like the most is June 30

(planned end of the curfew)

.

We will not put aside the barrier gestures, but people will be able to live at night, without gauges.

The movies are often after work, before or after having eaten a bite.

July makes us dream.

It will be the Film Festival, for five days, from June 30, then the Cannes Film Festival.

It's a pretty incredible streak coming up.

Read also Paris: at the Cité Curial, the cinema is on the balcony

If all goes well…

We all have this sentence in mind,

if all goes well

.

But the trend is good, the public authorities are reassuring.

I have a feeling that a generalized shutdown will never happen again.

At the worst of the worst, we would return to the minimum gauge of 35%.

We would not close cinemas and theaters.

I think we are headed in the right direction.

On the site, UGC mentions an “adapted confectionery offer”.

So, popcorn or not?

Take out, I know there is permission.

Decrees are always extremely technical and take longer than a political announcement.

We expect it for Monday at the latest and we will adapt.

The important thing is that we already have interesting pre-sales, customer service is starting to rework, people are getting information.

How did you get through this second six-month confinement?

It's always harder to close.

It lasted 24 hours, then we get back motivated.

What has helped us a lot, to remain dynamic, is that the network is opening four cinemas.

That of Plaisir (Yvelines), ready for three weeks, will welcome its very first spectator on May 19.

We are also opening in Toulouse, Bordeaux, and this summer in Lyon.

What films do you believe in to bring audiences back?

“Goodbye idiots”, obviously, and those very strong films that stopped in October, like “DNA”, “Rag Boy”, “Drunk”, which you absolutely must see in a theater.

There are films for children like “Tom & Jerry”, new releases like “The Embrace”.

There will be great diversity.

Exactly, 40 films showing on the 19th, isn't that too much?

It is the richness of the offer that will keep people coming to the cinema.

And you won't see a big movie in three rooms in the same cinema.

We prefer to focus on diversity.

I am not worried about the restart.

There are a lot of movies, it's true, but no more than during traditionally very busy times before the pandemic, like February or December.

And summer is shaping up well with big French releases, like “Eiffel”, with Romain Duris as Gustave Eiffel, the new “OSS”, “Kaamelot”.

And even the Americans: the new "Fast & Furious" or "The Croods 2".

Are you not worried that part of the public will turn away from theaters for platforms?

I do both, I go to the platforms, it's practical and well done. But if you ask me the last memory of a movie that moved me, it was in theaters. Leaving my house, with or without a party behind, I think I can remember almost every movie I've seen in the cinema. I'm not sure I can say that about screens at home. We zap, we distract ourselves. This crisis has taught us that we have been forbidden to see each other. There, we will meet again, make debates, presentations. I really believe in the pleasure of meeting up.

Source: leparis

All life articles on 2021-05-19

You may like

Life/Entertain 2024-02-07T09:35:48.579Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.