Entrances increased in the rooms in 39 European countries, in 2021, but remain lower than 70 % compared to the 2019 peak.
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During its annual meeting, which was held in Barcelona, Tuesday, June 21, the International Cinemas Union (Unic), which brings together operators from 39 countries on the European continent (by integrating Russia and Turkey ), drawn up a half-fig, half grape. Darken between solid faith in the resilience of the sector, thanks to the appetite of the public to return to the room, and the obligation to recognize that the pandemic had seriously shaken the profession.
For the first time, the Unic calculated that the COVVI-19, and its procession of closures and then reopening of the dark rooms, ended in a loss of results at the box-office of 6.2 billion D ‘euros in 2020 and an additional 5.1 billion euros in 2021. To this are added other sources of income, such as advertising, private events that data from the European Audiovisual Observatory extrapolate 7.5 billion euros for Europe in 2020 and 2021. In total, a loss of almost 19 billion euros in two years. “Without including rent, energy bills or temporary leave allowances, amounting to hundreds of millions of euros per week,” said the Unic. Serious social impact ”
Always in terms of bad news, “the social impact of the pandemic on the industry was just as serious, threatening the means of subsistence of the hundreds of thousands of employees” of the rooms, specifies this same report. Again, without taking into account the impact of these closures on other activities, such as retail shops or services located near or inside the film complexes.
Bringing a note of optimism in this slump, Phil Clapp, the president of the Unic, announced 590 million admissions in the cinemas of the 39 European countries studied (43,000 screens) in 2021, an increase of 36.4 % compared to 2020. The revenues resumed colors, with 3.7 billion euros (+ 40.8 % compared to 2020).
At the European Union level -with the United Kingdom -nearly 400 million tickets were sold, for an estimated value at 3 billion euros. The comparison with 2019, an exceptional vintage, is all the more painful, since the revenues melted by 70.4 % compared to this golden age. When 1.347 billion tickets were sold in these 39 countries.
However, Phil Clapp believes it hard as iron. “The film industry being now firmly engaged on the takeover, we are convinced that it will return to the record results of 2019,” he promised, in Barcelona. Be careful not to give any indication on the calendar.