The figures are clear, week after week: attendance at cinemas is in constant decline. Last July, Richard Patry, president of the National Federation of Cinemas, estimated it between -25 and -30% compared to 2019. Worse: that same month, the number of spectators was also lower than in 2021: – 2.3%.
What give some anxiety to professionals. Invited this Saturday morning on RMC for the promotion of his next film “Honorary Citizen”, the actor Kad Merad did not hide his torment. “We see week after week the decline. Yet there is no more weather, no more strikes: there are no more excuses. I am not the standard bearer of the profession, but I worry about our children who want to make films. We must encourage the cinema and it goes through the room. The situation is quite critical: we have to react and it goes through the public, ”he said.
The solution, for him, is above all to be sought on the side of the wallet. “A place in the cinema is not cheap (…) When we go as a family, take two ice creams, three sweets, that makes for expensive evenings…”, he notes before proposing some ideas: “We will have to rethink the price of the place of cinema. It will necessarily go through an economic effort. Lower prices ? Maybe ! A fixed price like books? Maybe ! We have to adapt to the crisis we are experiencing. You don’t have to wait! »
“When you go there as a family with children, it’s very expensive in the evening”
Questioned this Saturday in Deauville, on the sidelines of the American film festival, spectators shared his opinion. Like Lucien, a 57-year-old Norman: “He is right Kad Merad. I only go to the cinema a few times a year, and each time I find it overpriced when the films aren’t famous. I like going out, but frankly if it continues like this, I’ll prefer to watch movies on TV at home. Or even Sonia, a 35-year-old Parisian: “It’s 15 euros for a seat in certain rooms. So, when you go there as a family with children, it’s very expensive in the evening. I think it’s good that a great French actor is stepping up to warn about this problem and defend the spectators. »
So, too expensive the cinema? Questioned last July by Franceinfo, Richard Patry, head of the National Federation of Cinemas, had disputed the argument. “The average price is 7.05 euros. The 15 euros is the full price. Less than 19% of people pay this full price This means that 81% of spectators pay less than the full price”, he defended before launching into comparisons: « Find me a theater ticket for less than 7 euros. Go to the opera for less than 7 euros (…) I don’t think that the solution is in the price of tickets, not only. »