Reopening of the cinemas: curtain up for James Bond & Co.

James Bond had to wait a long time. But now it will soon be in cinemas that are allowed to open again from today. Many operators came through the crisis well. For the restart, however, they mainly criticize the mask requirement.

The corona crisis hit the film industry in full – and literally shook it up. In 2019, the turnover of cinemas in Germany was around one billion euros, last year it was only around 320 million. But now there is obviously a great desire for a comeback of the cinemas. “Our number of subscribers has recently increased, even though we haven’t even opened again,” says Christian Bräuer, managing director of art house cinemas in Berlin and chairman of the cinema working group.

A study by the Filmförderungsanstalt supports his experience. When asked whether they would like to go back to the cinema when they open again, around 49 percent of those surveyed in July 2020 answered: They then wanted to go to the cinema “normally” again. In January 2021, this value rose to 64 percent. Seven percent even stated that they would want to go to the cinema “more often” in the future.

Thanks to government aid, only eight bankruptcies

Film fans across Germany can relax in around 800,000 cinema seats. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the offer is currently that high. There are more than 1700 cinemas in the country – and this has remained constant for many years. The past months of the crisis have not changed anything in this regard. The industry association HDF Kino reported only eight bankruptcies in the past year. Christian Bräuer puts it this way: “The state aid programs worked like water wings. Sinking was prevented.”

So now it’s back to “film off”. However, the industry is not completely relaxed about the new start: Different rules for going to the cinema would apply in the federal states. The HDF Kino would like to have uniform. This includes that there should be no mask requirement for visitors. The main concern of the operators is that as much popcorn, beer and chips as possible land in front of the screens. Cinema-goers spend an average of 4.65 euros on consumption. That makes up a third of total sales for cinemas.

Cinemas refer to study on infection risks

Operators rely on a Study by the Technical University of Berlin. Researchers at the Hermann Rietschel Institute have examined how great the theoretical risk is of being infected with corona in closed rooms. Result: In a cinema hall that is 40 percent occupied, the risk without a mask is almost three times as high as in a comparable situation with a mask. But it only corresponds to the risk of infection when traveling with a mask on a half-full long-distance train or the risk of infection on an office working day in an office that is 20 percent full (with mask). In this study, the researchers understood mask to be everyday masks or medical mouth and nose protection and specifically not to FFP2 masks.

If you want to sit in a cinema with as few people as possible, you should at best watch a horror film – only one percent of German cinema-goers do that. And: go Monday to Wednesday, because very few go to the cinema. If you like the hustle and bustle: watch a comedy – like 24 percent of all cinema-goers. And that on a Saturday – 25 percent of the movie buffs go to the movie theaters.

The industry is now drumming for a new start under #endetwiederkino. The James Bond, which has been postponed many times, is due to start in Germany on September 30th. The title fits the mood of the industry: “No time to die – No time to die”.