In the absence of combatants, the meeting between all cinema distributors held on Wednesday May 5 under the aegis of the National Cinema Center (CNC) demonstrated the impossibility of self-regulation of film releases. Only the independents campaigned for such a solution. The subsidiaries of Hollywood studios as well as the large French groups opposed it.
After more than a year of the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 450 French and international feature films are awaiting a return date on French screens, starting from the reopening of cinemas on May 19. Faced with the historic traffic jam that awaits the 7e art, the Autorité de la concurrence had exceptionally given its agreement, on April 16, to a temporary agreement for distributors to shut down the mountain of films in stock. This would have allowed the most fragile films to find their audience, despite the unbridled competition from American blockbusters and very big French films.
The representative organizations of the sector, the Union of Independent Distributors (SDI) and European Independent Distributors (DIRE) spoke out on Wednesday in favor of the draft agreement outlined by the CNC and aimed at organizing a calendar of releases until the end of the year. In contrast, the main organization in the sector, the National Federation of Film Publishers (FNEF), played the policy of the empty chair.
Internal contradictions
The FNEF brings together both independents, the French subsidiaries of Hollywood studios with the exception of Disney, and large French groups, such as Pathé Films, UGC Distribution, Gaumont, MK2 Films, and Studiocanal. Torn by internal contradictions, the FNEF did not participate – as an organization – in the meeting, while letting its members do so if they wished.
The American studios, hostile to such a project since their releases are generally decided worldwide from Los Angeles, did not come. Disney either. Neither the large French groups. The few present, such as Gaumont or Studiocanal, said they did not want to sign the agreement. Faced with such a snub, the CNC invited the organizations present to survey their members to decide whether or not to follow up on the discussions. However, an agreement only between independent distributors would not make sense.
Two weeks before the reopening of cinemas, no safeguards have been put in place to avoid competition brought to its height between films. A situation that is all the more delicate for auteur cinema as the inter-professional agreements signed in 2016 to guarantee a diversity of films in theaters and ensure them a minimum duration of exposure, are today a dead letter.