Richard Patry, president of the National Federation of Cinemas of France and owner of cinema in Normandy, welcomed Monday, December 27 on franceinfo the return of the French to the cinema for the Christmas period. “Our fellow citizens want to go to the cinema despite this terrible crisis”, he asserted. According to him, “5.8 million French” went to the cinema last week, almost one in ten French people, which is the same attendance as in 2019. The end of the year celebrations are a good time for the seventh art while since the reopening of cinemas in May “we are approximately at -25%” on average, he says.
Franceinfo: Are the French going back to the cinema?
Richard Patry: There are a lot of films that are doing well. First for Spiderman, there are four million spectators, that is to say that we think that today the film will become the first film of the year in France. That’s excellent news. This means that our fellow citizens want to go to the cinema despite this terrible crisis, despite everything that surrounds us, the cinema remains a vector of relaxation, a vector of culture, and the French love their cinema. Last week, for example, 5.8 million French people went to the cinema, almost one in ten French people. For us, who have nevertheless experienced 300 days of closure, who have gone through the greatest crisis in our history, it must be said, it is excellent news.
What is the attendance compared to a normal Christmas?
In 2019, we did exactly the same. That is to say that on the Christmas holidays, we returned to normal. This is not the case if we take the average since the reopening, we are around -25%. But the last couple of weeks that we’ve just been through, it’s like 2019, which means we’re back to normal. In other words, going to the cinema at Christmas is something important for our fellow citizens.
Which films are working?
There are two cartoons, the Disney cartoon “Encanto” and “Tous en scène 2 “. And then there are also a few French films,” My very dear children “and” Mystery “. There really is something for everyone. Overall, the films work. It’s true, it’s a a little harder for French films, French dramas, these very beautiful productions which have a little trouble finding their audience. This audience has not yet fully returned to the cinemas. L’Événement “, for example, which tackles the problem of an abortion in the 1960s, it is true that we feel that the film today is below what it should have done and that the audiences have not completely returned to the cinema.