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OPERATORS France

On the edge of the abyss

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- Very few popular French films, fierce competition from DVDs and digital screenings. French operators launch a warning: many cinemas are now facing the threat of closure

There’s a lack of very popular French films, there’s widespread use of DVDs and rampant piracy, cinemas are getting in debt: there was increasing concern and worry expressed about the current state of French cinema, at the traditional meeting between operators and the authorities in the French film world, which took place yesterday in Deauville on the occasion of the 58th Conference of the National Federations of French Cinema (FNCF).

"If the drop in audiences also continues into the next year, some cinemas could be in serious danger". This was the hard edged observation made by the president of the FNCF, Jean Labé, referring to the drop of ticket sales in France registered since the start of 2003. The official figures show a 7% decrease, but the reality for many cinemas is that “the drop is actually much greater, and it could be as much as –18%”. This is a very dangerous situation for a sector that has gone heavily into debt over recent years to pay to modernise equipment, and which, as a result, has little enthusiasm to spend more money to spend on a possible move to digital screens. The operators complain that they’re the "poor relations of cinema" and they’ve called for more support from the authorities.

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The main reason for the concern has been put down to the lack of popular French films over the year long period covering 2002-2003. For example the audience figures for Taxi 3 have reached 6.5 million, while for Chouchou they stand at 3.8 million, and for another 14 French productions they range between 1-2 million. These figures hide the complete lack of a real mega-hit. On the other hand, the extraordinary success of the DVD format in France has put the operators’ in a cold sweat. With films released on DVD 6 months after their theatrical screenings, accompanied by very strong marketing campaigns, some of the traditional film audiences are switching their allegiances and turning to DVDs instead. Another important problem is piracy, as was stressed by the manager at Gaumont, Nicolas Seydoux: "as opposed to the music market, the film industry survives on very few films, so it just needs something small to cause the whole industry to crash. We’re seeing the dawn of a complete disaster. The most troubling thing is that our enemy isn’t the Mafia, wherever they may be, but it’s our children, our grandchildren who are downloading material from the internet as we speak".

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(Translated from French)

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