The sector of the film exhibition At the same time, it has experienced a few crises of various kinds. The most immediate, the one triggered by the closure of the premises and its subsequent partial reopening, has meant a dizzying drop in both revenue and the number of spectators that has only added to years of slow trickle of a sector in recession. During the pandemic, the preeminence of digital platforms as a model of exploitation, accelerating more if possible the change of habits in the spectators. To this demand crisis has been added another one of supply: the big studios have reserved for better times the big ‘blockbusters’, the claims that fill the theaters in a majority way, when they have not experimentally probed the premiere directly on the digital channel .
This global crisis has an even more forceful impact on the already fragile sector of the Spanish film production. The case of the film ‘Operation Camarón’, which hits theaters this week, is paradigmatic. Its announced premiere in March 2020 was cut short a week before the implementation of the state of alarm and confinement. It is a symptom of the state of the sector that this premiere is perceived as a ray of hope that reactivates a low minimum billing and, at the same time, as a test to verify to what extent it maintains its ability to attract the general public cinema made in Spain, with a long list of other works pending to hit theaters, waiting for their opportunity.
The arrival of the usual action films and comedies this season will have to compete with the desire to enjoy the outdoors and a recovered mobility. In favor, the need to satisfy the public’s desire for fun and escape. The faithful spectator’s desire to recover their routines. On the contrary, the fact that forced withdrawal from cinemas could become a trend, aggravated in this case by the use of masks in a closed space when outside they will no longer be mandatory. What will be the result of this challenge is not clear – in the same sector there are different degrees of optimism in this regard -, although the sector desperately needs the return of the public to the theaters. With everything, the acid test will be lived in September, when broad spectrum international blockbusters arrive.
The rooms have made a remarkable and commendable effort, since they reopened, much earlier than in other European countries, to remain open in conditions of sanitary security. They have rowed against the current, with a withdrawn audience and a billboard largely occupied with titles aimed at a loyal but minority audience. That offer, however, is not enough to maintain the large-scale business, the one that keeps the rooms alive. Will viewers return to the movies? Will they feel comfortable and will they have enough incentives? An entire industry depends on it.
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