“We need blockbusters” in theaters, Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak said on Tuesday, welcoming Disney’s confirmation of the release of the next Marvel Black Panther in French cinemas.
“Disney threatened not to release this film in theaters, which would have been a real handicap for our cinemas. Let’s not forget that these American films finance French cinema” via the tax on tickets, continued the minister, on the sidelines of a visit to the National School of Architecture in Strasbourg.
“These blockbusters, which bring a lot of people to our cinemas, we need them”she continued, as French cinemas have lost a third of their audience since the pandemic and hit an all-time low in September.
France is an exception with its strict schedule for releasing films over more than a year between cinemas, platforms and television, called media chronology and intended to protect cinemas and the diversity of creation.
This model was reformed eight months ago to integrate the platforms, but the subject remains hot. Disney, which is seeking to promote its own Disney+ streaming offer, is calling for adjustments, notably threatening to no longer release certain blockbusters in cinemas at all. Negotiations were opened in early October and on Monday Disney finally confirmed the big screen release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever November 9.
“The media timeline (…) cannot be a frozen block of marble”, underlined the minister. Because of “the acceleration of the platform landscape, we cannot wait two years to make it evolve”. The start of discussions “has reassured Disney about a desire to evolve, even if that does not mean that we will find an agreement with him so quickly”, she added. But it also allows “to put an end to this blackmail on the release of certain films in theaters”.