The pandemic weighed on traffic in cinemas, but Quebec films were still able to get by in the circumstances. Proportionally, Quebec cinema is experiencing its best performance since its record level of the early 2000s: a glimmer of hope after hitting the bottom in the last decade.
According to data published by the Observatory of Culture and Communications, local cinema represented 13.5% of cinema admissions in 2021.
Unheard of since 2005, when the share of Quebec films at the box office approached the 20% mark thanks to successes like CRAZY and Dawn.
Fewer blockbusters
“All over the planet, it was national cinemas that helped cinema attendance during the pandemic. In Italy, Italian cinema has picked up the slack, the same for British cinema in the United Kingdom, for German cinema in Germany. […] There were fewer American blockbusters, and that left room for other films,” reports Mario Fortin, president and CEO of Beaubien, Parc and Musée cinemas.
Just back from Cannes, Mario Fortin reports that there was a lot of talk about this trend during the prestigious festival which brings together industry players from around the world.
Will it continue, now that the return to normal is taking shape and that Hollywood is starting to regain its cruising speed?
All over the planet, it was national cinemas that helped cinema attendance during the pandemic
“There are good Quebec films that should do well this year. It’s gone well. But after two years of the pandemic, I don’t want to make any more predictions. We may have gotten out of the tunnel, but we are still blinded: we don’t yet know where we’re going, “says Mr. Fortin, still marked by the successive confinements which forced him to cease his activities for several month.
Troubled times
Between closings and social distancing that limited profits, movie theaters have obviously suffered from the pandemic. Attendance in 2021 is down 63% compared to 2019, with 7 million tickets sold for feature films, all origins combined.
Quebec films generated 0.9 million admissions, which, in proportion, is better than before the pandemic, but remains 40% lower, in absolute value, than the figures for 2019 (1.5 million).
The slope to climb back is probably too steep for 2022, but Mario Fortin is hopeful that attendance will return to its pre-pandemic level within a few years, despite the explosion of online platforms.
“The rooms will always have their place. Human beings need to go out to be entertained. Listening to a movie in your living room is fun, but it will never replace the cinema experience, ”he adds, unconcerned by the Netflix and Amazon Prime of this world.
Quiet period
And for good reason: indoor attendance was already approaching 2019 figures at the end of summer 2021, when capacity was no longer reduced by public health rules.
During this period of calm, The perfect family guide experienced a real triumph, sneaking among the big Hollywood productions to climb to the 8th position of the most popular films of the year in the province.
If we are only interested in Quebec cinema, the dramatic comedy by Ricardo Trogi which stars Louis Morissette accounts for more than 20% of admissions in 2021.
Alone, the three most viewed Quebec films of the year — The perfect family guidebut also Maria Chapdelaine and The time grabber — occupied 43% of the local market.