Iconic French cinema shuts for August as audiences plummet

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, March 29, 2024


Iconic French cinema shuts for August as audiences plummet
This file photo taken on January 11, 2018 shows the exterior of the Grand Rex film theatre in Paris. One of France's most iconic cinemas it to shut its doors for the month of August because so few people want to risk seeing movies on the big screen. Managers at the enormous Grand Rex in the centre of Paris -- which remained open throughout World War II -- said on July 27, 2020, Hollywood studios were also to blame for holding back the release of so many of its summer blockbusters. PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP.

by Jean-François Guyot / Fiachra Gibbons



PARIS (AFP).- One of France's most iconic cinemas is to shut its doors for the month of August because so few people want to risk seeing movies on the big screen.

Managers at the enormous Grand Rex in the centre of Paris -- which remained open throughout World War II -- said Monday Hollywood studios were also to blame for holding back the release of so many of its summer blockbusters.

The Federation of French Cinemas said Monday the double whammy was crippling the industry as they demanded state aid to help them through the crisis.

"Between the drop in admissions (because of the coronavirus) and the lack of fresh American films that traditionally are a big summer draw, we have decided to close our doors from August 3," the Grand Rex's manager Alexandre Hellmann told AFP.

"We will lose less money by closing than by staying open with this depressing box office," he added.

With 2,700 seats, the seven-screen Grand Rex's largest theatre is one of the biggest in Europe with a 300 square-metre (3,230 square-foot) screen.

Many French cinemas have been all but empty since they were allowed to reopen after an eight-week lockdown last month.

The cinema federation appealed to banks and landlords to give their members leeway, saying it was "absolutely necessary that the government also take urgent action to refinance" the sector.

Blockbusters pulled
Social distancing rules means cinemas are only ever allowed to be half full.




And audiences have mostly stayed away despite a poll finding that nearly a third of the country's population was keen to get back in front of the big screen.

Several cinema managers told AFP that the postponement of "Top Gun 2", "Wonder Woman 1984" and Christopher Nolan's spy drama "Tenet", as well as the Disney big-budget family movie "Mulan", had helped kill the buzz they were counting on to draw people back.

"It is much tougher than we imagined," said Aurelie Delage, manager of the six-screen Cinemascop Megarama at Garat in western France.

It is so grim in fact that "I am not looking at the figures," she told AFP. "This can't last."

But the lack of competition from Hollywood has helped some smaller French films make an impact at the box office, with the comedies "Divorce Club" and "Tout simplement noir" ("Very Simply Black") helping to push admission through the one-million barrier last week for the first time since the end of the lockdown.

Several big French releases have also been put back to September and beyond.

A study last week showed the French box office down almost 70 percent on the same period last year with only arthouse cinemas bucking the trend.

Yet the traditionally cinephile French have still been far more enthusiastic about returning to cinemas than their neighbours.

German cinema entries are down to just 17 percent of normal levels and the situation in Spain is even more catastrophic at just 13 percent, according to the Comscore study.

© Agence France-Presse










Today's News

July 28, 2020

Penn Museum to relocate skull collection of enslaved people

Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto dead at 76

Melania Trump will revamp White House Rose Garden

Banksy to donate sale of artwork to Palestinian hospital

Five works on paper by Emma Amos acquired by National Gallery of Art

Michael Jordan's historic 1984 "signing day" official Chicago Bulls rookie jersey heads to Julien's Auctions

Social media sensation Getty Museum Challenge to be a book

Picasso murals removed from Oslo building damaged by Breivik

London Transport Museum launches appeal to help fund its future

Public Art Fund launches the second installment of Art on the Grid

In Granada, dancing carefully, respectfully and with an audience

Classic Shaker sewing table stitches up a big win at Morphy's $3.2M Fine & Decorative Arts Auction

Iconic French cinema shuts for August as audiences plummet

Debutants and Americans dominate Booker Prize longlist

LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History sale at Swann August 13

Chinese porcelain plaque finishes at $96,250 in Bruneau & Co. auction

Observatory House on Edinburgh's Calton Hill to be revived for artist retreat and public hire

National Gallery of Art appoints Sheila McDaniel as Administrator

ICA Miami expands research department and renames to Knight Foundation Art + Research Center

Public appeal for stories, portraits and ideas to be displayed alongside the national collection

Turkish philanthropist Kavala seen as threat by Erdogan

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum appoints new Chief Development Officer

Formula One makes way for drive-in cinema in Mexico

How can Artists sit on a Chair and prevent Back Pain?

Benefits of CBD oils for pain

Drugs are Retard; Don't get started

Wall Designs That Will Surely Uplift You




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful