A new study by the Canadian Independent Exhibitors Network says their industry is “in crisis” and many theaters need increased public funding to stay afloat.
The results of a survey revealed Tuesday by the group show that 60% of operators who responded between December and February say they operated at a loss at the end of their most recent financial year.
About two-thirds of the 67 respondents say they need more public funding to stay operational. The majority of respondents estimate that they would need approximately $50,000 in additional funding per year, for three years, to make up for their immediate shortfall.
Sonya William, director of the Network, said the study paints a picture of a “really bleak” financial landscape, which risks getting worse if policy changes are not made and funding does not come.
“We think this is a really important moment for us to sound the alarm and say, please pay attention to what’s happening with film exploitation in this country,” he said. -she declared.
The group’s report comes as the industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, which temporarily closed cinemas in many regions, and as a succession of artists’ associations in Canada have lamented a lack of funding and a fight for the survival of their members.
Last week, the president of “Hot Docs”, the largest documentary film festival in Canada, which also presents films all year round, in Toronto, wrote a note to her “dear audience”, last week, saying his future was in jeopardy.
“While we have taken steps to reduce our overhead costs without impacting our core programming, we are rapidly losing ground and urgently need direct support to ensure our future viability,” Marie Nelson wrote on the site in an open letter on March 8.
Exclusive to major studios
To resolve these problems, the Canadian Independent Exhibitors Network recommends in particular that the major studios stop requiring that their film be shown for two, three or four weeks at all one-day screenings on the same screen.
According to the group, the studios would refuse any request to share a screen with other films. “If it’s a single-screen theater in a small community, […] it’s really difficult for a cinema to maintain a film for so long,” said Mme William.
Some 81% of independent operators surveyed said they were affected by this studio constraint and almost as many said it weighed on their programming. Moreover, 62% said that ending this practice would result in a “paradigm shift” or have “a considerable impact” on their activities.
The Independent Exhibitors Network also wants the elimination of “zone provisions,” which prevent a theater from showing a film when another “nearby” is still showing it.
“This system of zones is very mysterious: unfortunately, no one has ever seen the map of zones in Canada,” remarked Mme William.
The Regroupement’s study revealed that 53% of independent exhibitors surveyed often had to wait for Cineplex, the country’s largest cinema chain, to remove a film from their area before they could show it.
The ramifications of this practice were made abundantly clear over the summer, when blockbuster films barbie And Oppenheimer attracted crowds to theaters, breaking several box office records.
“Many cinemas [indépendants] of our network were not able to screen the films which could have really improved their financial results and which would have made their financial situation much more positive at the end of last year”, pointed out Mme William.