The retrospectives and thematic marathons were not enough. Due to a lack of audiences and films, the Grand Rex will temporarily close its doors from August 3 to 26. A blow for the legendary Parisian room of the Grands Boulevards, opened in 1932.
“ We tried everything by reopening, with retrospectives that worked, with several sessions showing 'full'. But it becomes difficult to innovate and attract the public with the ban on drawing in the catalogs of Disney and Fox. We reduced everything by starting our sessions at 4 p.m., closing some rooms, and rotating our teams weekly. But the public is not in the cinema, ”lamented Alexandre Hellmann, the owner, to our colleagues at Box-Office Pro.
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After confinement, on June 22, like many theaters, the Grand Rex offered the public a rich program of thematic retrospectives and marathons with some new features, from the DC Comics universe to Tarantino via Spielberg. Not to mention the screening of classics such as Casablanca or Les Affranchis .
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If the public answered present, the Parisian hall of 2800 places suffers despite everything from the lack of big American productions whose releases continue to be postponed. Like the next Christopher Nolan, Tenet, or the Disney classic Mulan, in live action. “ I lose less money closing than asking my teams to come and do nothing. It is demoralizing , specifies Alexandre Hellmann. We hope to reopen on August 26 with the Harry Potter Marathon ”. The operator nevertheless claims that he will be able to adapt the programming, at the start of the school year, according to the outings.
Read also: Mulan follows Tenet's example and shifts its release again
The Grand Rex is not the only cinema theater to suffer from the current economic situation. Several operators have decided to temporarily close their doors during the summer. This is particularly the case for the arthouse cinemas l'Hémisphère Theater in Coulommiers, a complex of four rooms and the Palace of Montluçon (five rooms), which will not reopen until August.
Read also: For lack of spectators, several cinemas are closing their doors
The international group Megarama, which has 23 cinemas in mainland France, has closed two of its art house complexes in Saône-et-Loire and in the Jura without specifying a possible reopening date.
