Asger Flygare, CEO of Scandinavian exhibitor Nordisk Film Cinemas, has written a passionate letter urging the industry to support theaters by releasing new products and claiming audience demand is there.
Flygare pointed to the green instincts of recreation in the Danish film industry, using the example of Thomas Vinterberg’s Mads Mikkelsen picture Druk (English title Another Round), which was published on site on September 24th.
The film has an estimated 800,000 viewers, making it the best Danish film in three years. This is despite the current COVID protocols including the limitation of the venues to 70% capacity.
“All the films released on the Danish market since the cinema opened in June have exceeded their pre-COVID estimates with app. Average of 26%, ”he wrote, explaining that the absence of international publications with large tickets makes room for local dishes.
Flygare said that during that time, its company learned that audiences will adapt to the new reality and that the perceived negative impact of security measures will decrease. He added that reduced capacity is seldom an issue as cinemas weren’t sold out on average before the pandemic. Overall, he claimed that 93.4% of the approvals recorded last year could have been registered this year under the applicable regulations.
Against this background, the CEO asked the distributors to support their theater partners with new titles.
“At Nordisk Film we urge distributors to submit their films. There is enough capacity and if the capacity limit is reached, distributors and cinemas should postpone the release,” he wrote.
Comments are closed.