2020 disaster year for film industry, but silver lining for Dutch cinema | NL Times

Announcing annual movie theater numbers is usually a rather tedious ceremony. The Association of Dutch Film Distributors (NVBF) happily toasted at the New Year's reception in Tuschinski, Amsterdam, where cinema revenue and the number of visitors, films, halls and chairs seemed to increase again. For ten years, this trend has been beneficial.

This year, he gave a speech at the air-cooled Tuschinski. However, the market share of Dutch films is very exciting: after a disappointing 10.9% in 2019, it reached 20.7%. Dutch cinemas remained relatively favorable during the 2020 disaster year, and since then, cinemas have been locked for 11 weeks. In March, or in some cases, movies with up to 30 spectators per room are being shown. As a result, the number of tickets sold fell from 38 million to 16.8 million, and the turnover fell from 348 million to 152 million euros. 

But there is a silver lining. Dutch cinema benefited from Hollywood, pushing its blockbuster movie into 2021. Finally, two nationally produced films entered the top ten list in 2020. In third place is "De Beentjes van Sing-Hildegard", which sold 712,000 tickets. Finkers pretended that Alzheimer's escaped his domineering wife. The fifth place in the top ten is Linda de Mol's "June, April, May", with 514,000 tickets sold at the box office. The movie "Miami's Onze Jongens" also achieved 293,000 sales. 

Nevertheless, the number of visitors to Dutch films has dropped by 20%. After the first lock-in, the attendance rate of the cinema even dropped by 73%. In the first 70 days, this was nearly 10% higher than the same period in 2019. 

In the next six months, cinemas will not be free from the coronavirus, which is reflected in the gloomy tone of the Tuschinski Hotel at New York University. Last year was about the spectacular new movie format. This year, the focus is on supporting programs and "field laboratories", which is a study by the Ministry of Economic Affairs that may increase the number of visitors to cinemas. 

The cinema eagerly hopes that the dining rules will be expanded. The rule of thumb is that after ticket sales, movie theaters can only break even at best. The sales of popcorn and Belgian beer are profitable, but in 2020, in addition to the 11-week lock-up period, the popcorn counter will be closed for fifteen weeks. 

Winnie Sorgdrager, chairman of the film association NVBF, hopes that the government can become more flexible. "The idea there is: Don't be too complicated, don't eat or drink in the room where you bought it." Jacques Hoendervangers, director of the market leader Pathé, expressed concern. He said: "Everyone respects the government's measures, but the catering industry is Thought it was too rash. You can solve the problem immediately by using the cinema bar as the pick-up location." 

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