Cinema under shock, public on the run and now movies too

Audience bleeding, steep collections, fearful distributions intent on blocking the release of important titles at a later date, the fourth wave of Covid on cinemas hits like a tsunami and the double pandemic between the Delta and Omicron variant unleashes a one- two that stuns. The Cinetel data at the end of the holidays presents an account that is a bloodbath without going around it too much. Five million on the weekend of the Befana, a glorious time, still under the already tragic previous weekend which closed at 6 million 380 and saddens the comparison with the same pre-pandemic period (do you remember when you lined up to laugh with Checco Zalone? Well he too does not attend the hall anymore and for now he throws himself on Sanremo). At that time thetakings had been almost 14 million with a difference of 63% compared to today and at the top there was precisely Tolo Tolo, a film capable of exceeding 41 million euros.

    The cinemas remain open but the public is not there and ... neither are the films. At least those like Spencer and Moebius of which it is already known that they are 'pending' as they say in the jargon (i.e. undated), while we are thinking about the releases among others of Kenneth Branagh's Assassination on the Nile and The sex of the angels Leonardo Pieraccioni with Ferilli, Ceccherini and Marcello Fonte, certainly neighbors of Paolo Costella sled with Vittoria Puccini and Bisio. The art of cinema is getting very close to the art of strategy, forces in the field, moves and counter-moves, "it's a pity that the enemy breaks in by surprise", observes Paolo Del Brocco, CEO of Rai Cinema, with ANSA, "we could not imagine to return in a month to this level of pandemic, a cold shower. Consequently the reasoning is short-term,we go on in small steps, moving the titles, then of course we will have to rethink the future in these two years of changed habits ".

    Looking at the numbers, thinking about the films at the top, above all the Spider-man case reached almost 22 million euros, an exceptional figure and which reflects the outcome in the world box office (over 1 billion and a half dollars), on a what is unanimous: "there was no - says Mario Lorini president of the Anec exhibitors - the adult audience and families and those films that attracted a particular audience, the fans of comics, those of the phenomenon Me against You, those of Pio and Amedeo for Bella Ciao ", as well as" Diabolik who, with 2 and a half million takings, is the first Italian party, also due to a stainless fan base ", adds Del Brocco.

    "We found ourselves in this situation overnight, until mid-December we still hoped for a discreet Christmas - underlines Giampaolo Letta CEO of Medusa - and if we remove the data from the Spider-Man case today, the disaster would be even greater, especially Italian cinema, we are the first with the result of Superheroes by Paolo Genovese (546 thousand euros in all) who had also waited for the theater since the previous lockdown.

    At this point we brake the cars and suspend Costella's film " .

    The reaction of Massimiliano Orfei, the CEO of Vision Distribution is the opposite: "We must not panic, even if the temptation to give up is strong. We confirm all the releases, starting with D'Innocenzo's Latin America on January 13th. , because if we put everything in pending to get people to go back to the cinema then it would be a titanic undertaking and we cannot afford it ". Mario Lorini has already motivated the exhibitors with a letter sent in these days, asking them not to think too much about what happened in the hall during the holidays, a way to overcome the shock, but then he expects the ministry to take into account the critical issues of the exercise. Refreshments, extensions of the decrees and decisions on the so-called window between the exit to the hall and to the platform, currently at 30 days,to which one would like at least 90. "The rooms have a cultural, social and economic sense, for the related industries, for the supply chain, for all the proximity that goes around them", adds Lorini.

    The long-time producer Riccardo Tozzi, founder of Cattleya and former president of Anica, goes further: "The public, when this plague is over, will return to the cinema and we will be more or less on the 100 million tickets as Italy has always had, what changes is the composition of the audience and the overall system: we are spoiled by the abundance of films and series at home, we will be called to go out and go to the theater when we feel that there is the event, the originality, the event that takes you there. For me it is not a question of windows, more or less long because we know that sooner or later they arrive, but of films that make us go out the door. It was Sorrentino's hand of God it seems to have gone very well at the cinema, I myself found full rooms, and yet it showed on Netflix.And then we must know that the cinema is no longer the point that determines the commercial and reputational value of a film, at least not the only one: Sergio Rubini's film on the De Filippo brothers in the room would have gone badly, on Rai1 it made a bang. and its value is certainly high but it is not given by the outcome in the room ".