Munich (dpa / lby) – After many difficult months of the Corona crisis, optimism is again spreading in the cinemas in view of the easing. “People really want to go to the cinema, but it will take a while before we really become profitable again,” said Christian Pfeil from the board of directors of the AG Kino Gilde Deutscher Filmkunsttheater, which operates cinemas in Munich and in Jena and Gera in Thuringia. Digital Minister Judith Gerlach (CSU) wants to present a detailed report on the state of the cinemas on Wednesday (9.15 a.m.) in the state parliament’s committee for science and art.
In particular, big films like “James Bond – No Time to Die” are currently working very well, according to Pfeil. With smaller productions, there is still a lot of work to do to get to the level before the Corona crisis. A restart aid would make sense here in order to make more complicated films palatable to people again.
Pfeil attributes the fact that some people still hesitate to go to the cinema to the circumstances that are associated with it, such as the controls of vaccination or recovery records. Many are also very cautious. «I have to be sure that it’s worth it. I would rather have a 100 million production than a small television game, ”said the cinema operator.
The 3G plus rule applies in Pfeils Munich cinemas such as the Arena Filmtheater or the Rio Filmpalast. Anyone who has not been vaccinated or recovered must have a negative PCR test. There is no mask requirement and distance. Matthias Damm has had good experiences with this stricter rule in his Casablanca cinema in Nuremberg. “There were isolated, albeit loud, criticisms from individual guests, but 99 percent of the audience was vaccinated anyway, so not much has changed for most of them, except that they are delighted with the end of the mask requirement.” In addition, the advance sales figures would increase significantly.
However, smaller cinemas like Casablanca do not benefit from the hype surrounding the James Bond film, which has been postponed many times, on the contrary. “The bond affected us rather negatively,” reported Damm. For one thing, it attracts a lot of attention, which is not good for the smaller films. “On the other hand, parallel to such blockbusters, the offer is always thin.” Still, he’s satisfied. “At the moment we are at 70 to 80 percent of the usual numbers at this time of the year, which is very decent.”
In order to ensure the existence of the cinemas during the corona-related restrictions, there was some government funding. And the loyal audience also helped a lot, as Matthias Damm, operator of the Nuremberg Casablanca cinema, reports. The people would have carried the Casablanca through the crisis with donations and voucher purchases. And the sponsoring association also has more new members than ever before. Damm therefore does not believe that streaming services have stolen viewers from cinemas: “The guests are thrilled to finally be able to go to the cinema again – we hear that every evening.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211020-99-660562 / 2
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