Cinemas want "real perspective": Cinemaxx founder: "Films are being sold off"

Cinemas want "real perspective"
Cinemaxx founder: "Films are being sold off"

Gamers are moving into empty movie theaters, popcorn is being sold outside the home, in Great Britain a cinema is even becoming a vaccination center: the industry is desperately fighting for survival in the corona crisis. Films need a screen and not streaming services, says Cinemaxx founder Flebbe ntv.de.

The pandemic year 2020 was dramatic for cinema operators and this year has not looked any better so far. In easing scenarios in the pandemic, movie theaters do not enjoy high priority, as a new Berlin draft that has been made public shows: In the step-by-step opening scenario of the capital, cinemas should only come after children's sports, music schools, libraries, museums, memorials and retailers.

"The industry is shaken to its very foundations," says Cinemaxx founder Hans-Joachim Flebbe ntv.de. And that doesn't just apply to Germany. The longer the situation lasts, the more inventive cinema operators worldwide become in order to survive the corona coma at all and have a chance of reopening.

In the pandemic, for example, it is the time for gamers. Gamblers conquer empty movie theaters. In South Korea, four of them sit in the empty auditoriums of the largest chain, CGV, and enjoy the excellent sound and image quality of the cinemas. They pay the equivalent of 90 US dollars for it, later in the evening it is 235 dollars. The US group Malco Theaters has also decided to offer its halls to gamers – up to 20 people are allowed here. Other cinemas sell popcorn away from home. In Great Britain, a cinema has even been temporarily converted into a vaccination center.

Cinema operators are taking desperate actions to stay afloat. According to the trade magazine Variety, global ticket sales fell by 71 percent to 12.4 billion US dollars in 2020 (2019: 42.4 billion US dollars). There are losses that can no longer be made up.

The attempt to win gamers as a paying audience is nothing new, says Flebbe ntv.de. But it contributes little to profitability. "With all the joy of additional usage options, such as gaming in the cinema or the sale of popcorn away from home. These developments will not save the cinemas."

"The cinema industry is on a drip"

The industry would have to continue serving as a "pawn", although it never appeared as a source of infection, he complains. "We are on the IV. We fight day after day for compensation that, contrary to all the full-bodied promises from federal politics, does not reach us," says Flebbe, who left the Cinemaxx group in 2008 after a dispute and has since been called premium cinemas in Hanover , Braunschweig, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Munich and Frankfurt operates. He puts the loss of his own cinemas due to the pandemic at 8 million euros by late autumn. He only received around 48,000 euros from the Corona stimulus package.

Cinemaxx founder Hans-Joachim Flebbe left the group in 2008 and has been running premium cinemas in Germany ever since.

(Photo: imago stock & people)

The fact that film distributors are increasingly showing films "that should actually be shown on our screens" directly into the streaming services hits the industry in the marrow. In order to "counteract our most valuable goods from being sold away, it is imperative that we get real prospects for a reopening as soon as possible".

However, it is still a long time coming. In neighboring Poland, where the 7-day incidence is higher than in Germany, the cinemas have meanwhile reopened their doors. A "one-seat-stays-free-distance rule" applies, which the German cinema operators had also offered in the summer. The cinemas in New York are allowed to start again on March 5th with an occupancy rate of 25 percent and a maximum of 50 viewers in front of a screen. In the US, cinema chains like AMC Entertainment Holdings are up to their necks. There, too, the major studios Walt Disney and Warner Bros have decided to publish films directly on online streaming platforms. AMC received a cash injection of $ 917 million in December.

"Cinema is and will remain the most beautiful form of community experience with moving images," says Flebbe. To prove this, "and to again offer our guests the opportunity to spend a carefree, safe evening outside their own four walls", is the claim. "We want to show attractive films again, as well as live broadcasts of operas and concerts. And we would also like to offer our halls to schools and companies again in order to enable safe teaching, training courses and events with a great distance and great technology." However, months could pass before then.

. (tagsToTranslate) Economy (t) Cinema (t) Corona crisis (t) Corona measures (t) Pandemics (t) Lockdown (t) Streaming