2023-08-01 19:11:25
The Anec replies to the article by Beppe Severgnini of 30 July. Will the fate of the historic Odeon in Milan be spared for others? The trade association believes so
Dear dr. Severgnini,
we are sincerely amazed, impressed and disappointed by your article of July 30 (“Cinemas die. But cinema lives”) which, inspired by the closure of the Odeon multiplex in Milan, recites a “de profundis” of cinemas, which is extremely inaccurate and inappropriate .
The Odeon closes due to the real estate logic of a city, Milan, which, as you, Milanese by adoption, know very well, has devoted its center almost entirely to shopping, to the detriment of cultural activities. But while Odeon closes, in a few months 10 screens will open at Cascina Merlata. Many other halls are investing in the renewal of their facilities. Cinemas in Milan move, change, as the geography of the city changes, but they don’t die.
You write about the closure of theaters while Italy and the world are experiencing one of the strongest cinematic summers ever with planetary successes such as “Barbie”, which is crumbling all box-office records, becoming a phenomenon of custom, “Oppenheimer” by Christopher Nolan, which will be released in Italy in August, and which everywhere in the world, where already in theaters, is a “must see” that brings together critics and audiences. And many other great films included in a project, Cinema Revolution, strongly desired by the industry and also pushed energetically by our Ministry of Culture which believes and invests in the future of cinema in theaters, but whose existence you seem to ignore despite the ‘exceptional media exposure.
He writes about a theater inexorably destined to die after its forced closure during the pandemic unequivocally sanctioned its economic irreplaceability in the film exploitation chain. According to all insiders, from producers to television broadcasters, not just cinema managers. No nostalgic or romantic reason, mind you, we leave those to the articles of costume, but purely economic. Without the flywheel of the theater, the large investments of film productions are simply not economically sustainable. Translated: the platforms, the domestic vision to which you are certain that our children will inexorably sacrifice themselves, are unable to make up for the absence of the cinema and of what it moves. In addition to still generating billions of dollars worldwide in takings and employing hundreds of thousands of workers, cinemas are the indispensable and irreplaceable tool in the creation of the star system as well as the driving force behind an associated industry of enormous dimensions. Up to here, in a few lines, simplifying as necessary in a context like this, the economic plan of his inaccurate thought.
On the purely sociological and dare we say anthropological one instead, the cinemas full of hundreds of thousands of rejoicing young people who, despite 35 degrees in our cities, fill the cinemas in this summer 2023 (the cinemas in the summer cannot work … another great truth) tell us , fortunately, also and again of man’s need to socialise, to share thoughts and emotions, away from the digital solitude of his devices. Because Cinema is this, in addition to the technical excellence of large screens and unparalleled home audio systems. And if you remembered this, do you think, Dr. Severgnini, it is precisely the young people you indicate as unwilling to attend theaters in the future.
In fact, the profiling of the post-pandemic audience tells us that it is precisely the under thirty who have resumed going to the cinema almost as soon as before, driven by their vitality, dynamism and curiosity, while it is the over 50 who have become lazy on the sofa at home and still missing from the theaters, embossed by an overabundant, sometimes messy, certainly solitary offer. The domestic one.
And maybe willing to hide and absolve their laziness behind an easy and inaccurate thought: the theaters will close. Perhaps this deserves a little more in-depth reflection, which starting from some ideas that we hope we can provide you, we are sure you will be able to do.
Anec, National Association of Cinema Owners
Beppe Severgnini replies:
Thank you for the long passionate letter. I understand the exhibitors’ determination to defend cinemas, but I fear it is a losing battle. Of course, they remain a showcase for novelties. But for how long, and for how many? Cinema comes to us on ever larger home screens, in ever greater quality; bringing, moreover, the habit of seriality. As I wrote, the future of movie theaters appears similar to that of newspapers, destined to become a minority habit. Only that we have an alternative (digital information); your alternative (streaming) is the opponent. I repeat: the comparison between theaters and platforms (Netflix, Prime, Apple, Disney, etc) seems to me to be unequal, like that between typewriters and computers, CDs and digital music, landlines and smartphones. I hope I’m wrong. In this case I will admit it, glad of my mistake.
August 1, 2023 (change August 1, 2023 | 19:10)
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