“Some cinemas won’t make it, and the smaller ones will be more likely,” says Hans-Joachim Flebbe. Photo: Christian Charisius / dpa (Christian Charisius / dpa)
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The new James Bond film was supposed to attract millions of visitors to German cinemas during these weeks, but now the roughly 4,000 screens remain dark.
According to Hans-Joachim Flebbe, who operates ten premium cinemas in Germany, smaller houses in particular will not survive the corona crisis. “We have zero revenue for us,” says the 68-year-old. In addition, the shutdown drives film fans into the arms of streaming services such as Netflix – possibly forever, Flebbes is concerned.
Question: As a student in the early 1970s, you converted the Apollo in Hanover into one of the first program cinemas in Germany and opened the first multiplex cinema in Germany in 1990. Have you ever had such a long film break?
Answer. No, the cinema never actually stops, not even on Christmas Eve. Even after the attacks on September 11, the game continued. The ban has now been in place for more than five weeks. As a farewell we saw “The Gentlemen” by Guy Ritchie on March 15th in Hamburg’s HafenCity. There were many sad faces.
Question: Your industry association HDF Kino speaks of earnings losses of 17 million euros per week in the German cinemas. Will there be a cinema death?
Answer: Some cinemas will not make it, probably the smaller ones. There is zero revenue, unlike restaurants with delivery services or department stores with online sales. We are totally paralyzed. It also depends on the goodwill of the landlords whether they agree to a rent reduction. There is a rescue fund with KfW guarantees, but the examination of the banks is lengthy. Short-time work benefits are usually not paid to mini-jobbers. We took the part-time workers out of our own pockets, and students also have to pay their rent and buy their food.
Question: How do you bridge the time of closure? Are you planning alternatives?
Answer: We have been trying to get approval for drive-in cinemas in Hamburg, Hanover and Braunschweig for three weeks. Unfortunately, that drags on, that’s probably the northern German mold. In NRW, the permits work faster, I think. We don’t want to build a nuclear power plant, we want to create a little distraction. We keep the distance rules, we go away afterwards, we clean everything!
Question: Is the corona pandemic the biggest crisis in the 120-year history of cinema?
Answer: It is not the biggest crisis. In the 1950s, 500 to 600 million cinema tickets were still sold, and television quickly reduced it to 120 million. However, this crisis will continue to haunt us for longer. At the beginning we thought that in three months the spook will be over. You can buy a kitchen or a car a little later, but you can’t catch up on a movie. People won’t go to the cinema two or three times a week in autumn and winter.
Question: Maybe some cinema fans will do it out of solidarity?
Answer: Some show their solidarity in emails, but there are also many who are in no hurry to get the money back for the cards they have already bought. An employee is completely busy reimbursing tickets. The movie closings are driving many people into the arms of Netflix and Amazon. It’s golden times for streaming services. This will have a lasting negative impact on the number of cinema-goers.
Personal details: Hans-Joachim Flebbe (68) is the founder of the cinema chain Cinemaxx, from which he resigned in a dispute in 2008. Since then, he has focused on elegant movie theaters with comfortable seats and on-site service. Locations are Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Hanover and Braunschweig. Flebbe comes from Hanover, but has lived with his family in Hamburg for 25 years. (dpa)
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