Sarah Legrain, MP Nupes, wants to bet on "an addictive cinema". Thursday, May 25, during a press conference at the National Assembly, the elected announced to table a bill that would set a ceiling for the price of cinema tickets. According to her, "removing the brake on the price of the cinema ticket facilitates the transformation of casual spectators into regulars.
»The bill provides for the regulation of the price of the cinema ticket without defining it, instructs the executive to set it by decree. At the same time, the distribution of advertising revenues, among others, would also be rethought. Finally, the MP intends to create a tax on popcorn and other confectionery for cinemas with more than three screens. Fixed at 10.72%, this tax would be paid directly to the CNC to feed the support fund for aid to creation.
The average price of a ticket is however 7 euros, which does not seem very expensive. But nearly 40% of theaters charge higher rates. In multiplexes that concentrate a good part of the offer, it is not uncommon for the price of the ticket to turn around 10 euros and more. With the technological development of cinemas, some exhibitors charge exorbitant prices, such as the Pathé Parnasse in Paris, a "premium" cinema for which you have to pay 18.50 euros. "For a family with two children, an outing to the multiplex costs 50 euros just for tickets, 75 euros with the 4DX option. If she allows herself a pack of popcorn it is necessary to add between 4 and 8 euros, says Sarah Legrain. In total, the family outing represents a cost between 58 and 87 euros."
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The increase in misleading attendance?
Back on the table, the debate on the price of cinema tickets had already been revived last September. At the microphone of RMC, Kad Merad rebels against the price of cinema tickets, much too high according to him. "At that time, there is already high inflation but nothing comparable to today," says Sarah Legrain. At the same time, exhibitors were alarmed by the lowest attendance at cinemas. At the beginning of the year, cinemas fill up again and return to the same level of attendance as before the health crisis. A misleading increase according to MP Nupes who says that it "is felt on two or three films like Super Mario Bros".
In France, between May 17 and 23, the top box office places are occupied by blockbusters: Fast and Furious X and Guardians of the Galaxy 3. But in its first week of screening, the Jeanne du Barry de Maïwenn appropriates the third position, a flying start. The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan also offers himself the lion's share and I would always see your faces, in theaters for nearly two months has accumulated more than a million admissions.
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In September, professionals in the sector had questioned the quality of films. Christophe Maffi, president of the Lyon union of cinema exhibitors and member of the national federation of cinemas, takes the example of Top Gun. Still on display in the fall despite its release on May 25, 2022, the blockbuster exceeded 6 million admissions in August. At the microphone of France Inter in October 2022, the boss of Pathé, Jérôme Seydoux stressed that what leaves the fastest "are the most expensive places, when we have a film that people want to go see".
The AcSB launched a study in May 2022 to determine the causes of the drop in attendance. On the podium of reasons "of non-return to theaters": a loss of habit and the price of the ticket too expensive. Watching films on other platforms comes in fourth place but it is the main obstacle for 15-34 year olds. "We must restore the cinema to its character as a popular agora," insists Sarah Legrain.