Despite the reopening, 2020 is still a black year for the dark rooms… And The Palace of Montluçon no exception. The five halls of the cinema of the city of the banks of the Cher will be again accessible from this Wednesday June 24. With eight films to the poster : In before ; The case of Richard Jewell ; A mermaid in Paris ; Sonic ; Invisible man ; The good wife ; The traveling ; and De Gaulle.
The films offered
“These are the ones that we already had before we close, there is no new “says Frédéric Dubourgnoux, the owner. What to do with a question : “We are happy to re-open, of course, because it is the nerve of war, but isn’t it a bit early?? “, he said. “There will be nothing new before the 1st or the 8th of July. And this will take even longer for the big american films as Tenet, the output of which has already been shifted “. However, these blockbusters attract often many spectators. “As The Lion Kinglast July, which was our biggest success to 2019 “.
The rules to follow
In short, Frédéric Dubourgnoux feared a reboot ” complicated “. Not to speak of the sanitary measures – wearing a mask recommended but not required – that will accompany it. Particularly with respect to the distances : one-seat gap between each person, or group. “For example, in the largest room, it makes us spend 200 to 70 seats only “.
“We will also schedule 30 % of sessions or less, per week, to be able to renew more air between each of the rooms and prevent flow of customer may not be able to cross. “
Frédéric Dubourgnoux (Owner of the cinema in The Palace)
Photo from the archives.
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Déconfinement in France : what changes from the Monday, June 15, and in the days that follow [15/06/2020]
The impact
All of this will have – and already has – a cost. “In these three months we have lost about 40,000 entries. This represents 300.000 € of turnover and 130.000 € of gross margin less “. By adding the shortfall to come, due to all these constraints related to the recovery, Frédéric Dubourgnoux table on a decrease of the order of ” 50% to 55% by the year 2020 “, compared to around 180,000 tickets sold over the past year.
The sustainability of the Palace is she threatened?? “For this year no, but it shouldn’t be that 2021 is also dying… “, warns the manager. “These restrictive measures are not viable on the long term “. Suffice to say that rapid easing is expected by the professionals of the sector. Even if, in Montluçon, we do not expect a return to normal attendance before “in late 2021 or early 2022 “… It still seems far away the happy end.
“No risk of bankruptcy, but large financial losses” for the cinema of Montluçon [01/05/2020]
Luc Bar
Photos Florian Salesse and archives
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