“We refuse people almost daily”, testifies the director of a cinema near Toulouse

The release of “Avatar 2” will breathe new life into cinemas in the Toulouse region at the end of 2022. In France, it is one of the 20 best starts of the century, the film brought together more than 2.7 million spectators in one week. Interview with Vincent Boy, director of Kinepolis in Fenouillet, near Toulouse.

France Bleu Occitanie: Puss in Boots 2, Avatar 2.. is it also a hit in your cinema?

Yes it sucks. The rooms are full every day, we refuse people almost daily, but we encourage people to book for future sessions, if the times do not suit them on D-Day. Indeed the so-called premium rooms with somewhat exceptional formats that James Cameron knows well how to allow us to fill the cinema, it is the attraction of this film. In particular 3D, the HFR 48 frames per second that James Cameron really puts forward in his film, or even rooms equipped with its Laser ULTRA, Atmos Dolby etc… that’s what people are looking for.

Do you have figures on these end-of-year films?

“Avatar 2” allows us to find beautiful colors at the end of the year, since it has already reached 120,000 visitors in Toulouse and its agglomeration, which is a rather exceptional figure. Nevertheless, the year 2022 has been difficult for the first nine months, and just “Avatar” and “Puss in Boots” do not allow us to resume a year similar to what we have already known, but the signals are green and remains positive for the year 2023.

How to sustain this improvement?

Blockbusters are important, since we know that they will attract audiences for the films around them. We try to create animations around films to market them, to encourage people to come and not just see a film. Come to take part in events, exchanges with actors or concepts such as the film “Tempête” currently highlighting people with disabilities. Our goal is to create movie events for people to live around an event in the movies.

The last Disney will not be released in cinemas, it will be released on its Disney + platform, is this a blow?

That’s why a blow since it’s the Disney of Christmas. Nevertheless, there are always films that will gravitate around it. Disney is not the only distributor, is not the only one to have a grip on cartoons. The proof is with “Puss in Boots”, but not that: “The Kingdom of the Stars” is currently also working very well in the cinema. So yes, it’s obviously a blow. But other distributors know how to place themselves precisely to take the market that Disney does not wish to take in our cinemas.

2023 releases: what are the big films, the big locomotives to come?

For 2023, I think “The Three Musketeers” will be a hit in the cinema and I am I am happy, a French film which is moreover distributed by Gaumont Pathé, a two-part release. First part at the start of the year in the first quarter and second part right away at the end of the year, so it’s also something quite unexpected. Colleagues were able to see it, and we are talking about a rather exceptional film. There’s an incredible line-up for 2023. We’re going to start right away in January with Babylone, Damien Chazelle’s latest, with Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. Or Asterix by Guillaume Canet, with an insane cast.