A fifth opus, an exceptional cast and a budget of 65 million euros. With his extraordinary cast and his budget of 65 million euros, Guillaume Canet is counting on conquering all of Gaul with Asterix and Obelix, the Middle Kingdom, in theaters this Wednesday. But as Alea is not yet jacta, the director is on all fronts of the promotion. From interview to interview, the 49-year-old actor has sent many spades to the current cinema industry, in particular at the microphone of Léa Salamé on the airwaves of France Inter.
Trying to express his fears a few days before the release of his film, Guillaume Canet explained that the cinema was better since the end of the health crisis, but remained very fragile. “A film like this is long awaited by the profession. They are very friendly with me, they know that if this film does not work, there will not necessarily be many others today in France”. In short, if you don’t go see Guillaume’s film, French cinema is going to suck.
The financial pressure
An awkward exit to say the least. “You have to give the viewer time to get back into the habit of going out,” explains Stéphanie Pourquier-Jacquin, lecturer in information and communication sciences at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (CNAM). People return to it but often it is done by the small rooms, with a more personal approach. We are in a period of crisis, so the process of going to the cinema is perhaps less obvious”. The specialist also highlights a difficult economic context. A cinema ticket remains a considerable expense for many French people in the middle of a year marked by inflation.
Beyond his clumsiness, is the fear of Guillaume Canet legitimate? “It’s complicated – and he says it half-word – for a big production that comes out in 2023 after mastodons like Top Gun and Avatar. With this media release, it highlights the pressure that weighs on all French cinema, ”underlines Stéphanie Pourquier-Jacquin.
However, industry players are less pessimistic than the usual discourse heard in the media, compares Chloé Delaporte, lecturer specializing in film economics at Paul-Valéry University in Montpellier. “In the speeches, we hear that everyone is going to die, that it is the end of cinema, that the platforms have killed everything and that it is excruciating. But when we look at the socio-economic indicators, we have good attendance figures for the year 2022 ”. In fact, at the beginning of January, the National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC) announced 152 million admissions for the previous year, even noting “a strong rebound”.
“The death of cinema, a cream pie”
“The death of cinema has been announced for a century. It’s cream pie. Is there a future for cinema? The answer is obviously yes. At which level ? It is still unknown today, ”explains Claude Forest, teacher-researcher in economics and sociology of cinema at the Sorbonne Paris-3. “There are cinema crises all the time, it’s cyclical,” confirms Chloé Delaporte. Several factors can motivate this announcement: the release of great American successes, the arrival of television or later – and we will come back to this – that of streaming platforms.
For the economist specialist in the cinema Claude Forest, it is also necessary to distinguish the posture of the director from the reality of the feelings. “It’s a bit of the business of artists to complain, it’s not the only one”. After lining up a budget of 65 million euros for the new adventures of Asterix, Guillaume Canet certainly has a fear: that of never making his film profitable. “It’s an extraordinary budget and the stakes for production are very high to amortize the budget with millions of admissions,” he admits.
The director’s fear is rational, according to Julie Escurignan, teacher-researcher at EMLV. “On a franchise for the general public, if it doesn’t work in France, we can estimate that more niche or auteur films will not work and will then no longer have a subsidy, that’s understandable. If a blockbuster doesn’t work, how can you expect lower budget films to work? “, she asks.
Platforms and cinema, complementary uses
Film economy specialists interviewed by 20 minutes do not really understand the words of Guillaume Canet. “When he mentions that “never again will we produce French films”, it bothers me a little. There are French films and series that work well on the platforms! “, criticizes Julie Escurignan.
But shouldn’t we abandon once and for all the constant opposition between cinemas and streaming platforms? This is the question posed by the researcher. “These platforms also allow the public to access films they would never have heard of. Yes, it’s not cinema, but it’s an evolution in the ways of consuming audiovisual and that doesn’t mean that there won’t be the possibility of doing something like that on a platform like Netflix. »
Same observation for the academic Claude Forest. The platforms in no way replace cinemas, but are rather complementary both for the viewer and for the ecosystem and its financing. It could even be that the platforms and the cinema share the same audience, underlines Chloé Delaporte.
A life after the hall
An observation joined by Stéphanie Pourquier-Jacquin. The life of a film can no longer be measured by its existence in theaters and lasts much longer. For example, this Monday evening, the film Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra was rebroadcast for the 156th time on television. Jackpot for the TF1 channel, which was at the top of the audience with nearly 5 million viewers. “It shows that it is a long-term success. It is therefore very difficult to measure success solely on theatrical admissions,” emphasizes Stéphanie Pourquier-Jacquier.
Guillaume Canet can therefore breathe, the cinema is not in danger of collapsing tomorrow. As for his film, there is a good chance that the casting and the interest in the Asterix saga will attract many spectators. “This type of film is reassuring in times of crisis and is a bit nostalgic because it’s been a long time since there has been an Asterix film,” concludes Stéphanie Pourquier-Jacquin. The Asterix franchise really has a reassuring side and a madeleine of Proust for the public. »