With the pandemic starting again in France, the management of a number of multiplexes have decided not to take any risk.
From Wednesday morning, the health pass will be required at the entrance to the rooms.
But contrary to government announcements and the decree published overnight, wearing a mask may well remain compulsory in most cinemas.
“In my region, near La Rochelle, the contamination figures explode while the situation was calm ten days ago.
It's a crazy thing.
It is obvious that prefectural decisions will be taken.
I prefer not to confuse the message with the spectators and to keep the obligatory mask.
"
Jocelyn Bouyssy, CEO of the CGR group, third French network
The large multiplex networks thus take the opposite view of the decisions taken by the executive and detailed Tuesday morning by the Minister of Health Olivier Véran. According to the decree published in
the Official Journal,
the obligation to wear a mask may be lifted in cultural places controlling the health pass, unless the prefect of the department or the managers of these establishments so impose. And, precisely, the management of large groups are wondering. “
In my region, near La Rochelle, the contamination figures explode while the situation was calm ten days ago,
testifies Jocelyn Bouyssy, CEO of the CGR group.
It's a crazy thing.
It is obvious that prefectural decisions will be taken.
I prefer not to confuse the message with the spectators and to keep the obligatory mask.
"
Read also: Cinemas, theaters, museums ... The mask will be optional in places subject to the health pass
In addition to the probable decisions of the prefects, two other specific cases challenge the leaders of multiplexes.
What happens if a young person under the age of seventeen, who does not yet have the obligation to be vaccinated or to present a negative test, does not wear a mask as permitted by the decree?
He can thus find himself next to spectators who have the sanitary pass.
Another subject of concern for theater managers: spectators do not wear a mask and a positive case has been detected.
All the spectators geolocated by the scan of their QR code will become contact cases since even while being in front of different films, they use the same corridors, the same hall.
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For all these reasons, the government's decision seems "
totally implausible
" and the majority of multiplex managers prefer to play it safe. Organizationally, most have purchased hundreds of cell phones that will allow the QR code to be checked. In the 73 theaters of the CGR network, the third largest in France, control will be carried out outside the cinema for screenings with high attendance, such as those at
Kaamelott
and
OSS 117
for example.
“The staff will have a phone where the StopCovidVérif app has been downloaded,”
explains Jocelyn Bouyssy, who emphasizes the simplicity of the device: “
Green is good. Red no. "
For sessions with low attendance, the control will be done inside at the same time as the ticket. "
There the teams will have their usual showers
", that is to say the scanners with which the multiplexes are already equipped.
“In recent days, our IT specialists have modified the software to read both the health pass and the tickets,”
explains Jocelyn Bouyssy. In other less modern multiplexes, those where you still have to go to the terminal to retrieve a paper ticket even if the ticket was purchased electronically remotely, the system will be a little different. Queues in the halls may be longer. After the stop at the automatic terminal, the control will be done at the same time as the checking of tickets. So obligatorily to theinterior of the cinema.
Read also: Cinemas, theaters, festivals, night clubs… What is authorized and what epidemiologists recommend
According to our information, other groups could also make decisions in this direction quickly. “
With the StopCovid Verif app, wifi is not compulsory, which is fortunate,”
explains the boss of another major network.
We managed to space out our sessions a little more.
This professional will make a point Wednesday evening with his teams at the end of the first day of installation of the sanitary pass. “
Everyone will settle down quickly, he
believes.
The final idea is to play the game, to push as many young people as possible to get vaccinated quickly so that at the start of the school year, we can avoid being confined again.
Among the solutions considered by its theaters, also, the installation of PCR test tents near the multiplexes.
“It is absolutely necessary in all these packed rooms that people keep their masks well, which they have not always done in recent weeks.
We will do rounds in the rooms.
If we don't have a cluster tonight then we never will.
"
The leader of a large French network
Unlike the precautions taken by the large networks, a dozen cinemas have announced that they reserve the right to lower the level of certain rooms or screenings to be below the bar of 50 spectators.
Because, in this case, the health pass is no longer mandatory.
But this "tinkering" divides even within the profession.
"
The message must be national,"
annoys a multiplex manager.
There is no question of having here and there personal initiatives which scramble communication.
"
Read also: Health pass: to postpone its application, a cinema operator prefers to reduce its gauge
The first big test will take place on Tuesday evening, during the previews of
Kaamelott,
taken by storm by the spectators. "
It is absolutely necessary in all these packed rooms that people keep their masks well, which they have not always done in recent weeks,
insists the leader of a large group who wishes to remain anonymous as the subject is sensitive.
We will do rounds in the rooms. If we don't have a cluster tonight then we never will.
"
