2023-05-23 21:16:19
A small oven in hand, a glass in the other, under the sun of a late followingnoon in Cannes, producer Edouard Mauriat, at the head of Mille et Une Productions, is delighted: “All the lights are at the Green light. “Begun this winter, the rebound in cinema attendance in France – at 19 million admissions in April, slightly more than the 2017-2019 average – is blowing a wind of optimism on the sector, while the 76e edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which ends on Saturday May 27, is in full swing.
“Exhibitors and distributors are finding color, even if some remain fragile, and we can rely on solid agreements”, continues the vice-president of the Union of Independent Producers (SPI). The media chronology, renegotiated at the start of 2022, notably secures the financing of production by Canal+ and Netflix.
On the Croisette, the Covid is like a science fiction film from a previous edition: almost already forgotten. Attendance, accreditations, audiences… All the indicators point to a return to normal.
Audience success
Partner, with the online media “Brut”, of the Cannes Film Festival for the second year in a row, France Télévisions is thrilled. “This coverage of the Cannes Film Festival on our antennas is an unexpected success. Our audiences are much higher than those of last year, with a very significant increase in viewers from the opening ceremony, to almost 2.2 million compared to 1.7 million last year”, says Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez with satisfaction. , the director of antennas and programs.
The group brought down the flagship program of France 5, “C à vous la suite”, on the Croisette. Michelle Yeoh, Cécile de France, Vincent Macaigne, Anaïs Demoustier, Vincent Lacoste… Monday evening the 24th, as the sun casts its last rays on the yachts of the Marina, French and international stars parade on stage. “The show came close to its record last Friday, with nearly 1 million viewers,” applauds Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez.
Same story on the side of “Brut”, which covers the Festival on social networks and ensures the executive production of the opening and closing ceremonies and programs recorded on the set of France Télévisions. Online, the opening one was watched by 12 million people worldwide. “On average, the audiences for our videos are 15 to 20% higher than those of last year”, specifies the co-founder of “Brut”, Guillaume Lacroix.
The Croisette is crowded. While the Festival is not over, 40,000 festival-goers have already been accredited, indicates the town hall of Cannes, a level 20% higher than that of 2022 at the same stage. On the first week, the city’s hotel was full.
Hollywood stars
At the film market, 14,000 professionals are accredited to negotiate the purchase or international sale of feature films screened, compared to around 12,000 in total last year. In terms of transactions, “it is not yet as dynamic as before the crisis, but it is picking up”, underlines a player in the sector. “All global markets have returned, including Asian buyers and sellers,” adds another.
This 76e edition also benefits from the return of an armada of Hollywood stars, like Harrison Ford, who came to present the new opus of “Indiana Jones”. “The production capacity is back to normal, as can be seen in particular in the number of American projects presented at Cannes”, observes Ardavan Safaee, president of Pathé Films.
The icing on the cake, the streaming platforms, tempted in recent years to show the films directly on their service, are now playing the game of the room, as evidenced by the presence in competition of the film by Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon “, with Leonardo DiCaprio, which will first be released in cinemas before arriving on Apple TV.
“The boss of Apple, Tim Cook, made the trip to Cannes,” notes a professional. A sign that does not deceive. Like Amazon, Apple decided a few months ago to invest 1 billion dollars a year in the production of films for the theater, according to the American press.
“The Covid has not made the need to experience emotions in common disappear,” concludes Elisha Karmitz, co-director general of MK2. Despite the diversity of the offer, the cinema remains a place of prestige, of dreams, of expressing a view of the world. An irreplaceable experience of which Cannes is once once more the dazzling showcase.
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