Cinemas have been putting on an enormous strain for the very long period of two full years and being presently faced with terribly discouraging forecasts they see themselves in need of governmental support.
It was the beginning of last March, when iefimerida.gr underlined that the cinema sector would be sailing in uncharted waters.
Although cinemas are operating normally and government officials quarantee the country will not be having one more lock down, everyday life for theatre owners proves impossible to cope with.
Fury against new curbs
Movies professionals have been greatly alarmed by the government announcements of new curbs according to which from Monday (22/11) access to indoors catering facilities, theatres and cinemas, museums, gyms and stadiums will only be available to the fully vaccinated and people with a certificate of covid recovery. “We are terribly afraid that this will be the end of the movies sector. People not allowed to walk in upon presenting a negative rapid or PCR test, is a definite reduction in turnover, though fixed business costs are still running,” professionals reported to iefimerida.gr
Risk of fold in theatres
Head of the Panhellenic Union of Cinematographers, Panayiotis Tsakalakis, said: "Keeping the business going has been almost impossible, particularly in the district cinemas, but now having to face new curbs from 22/11onwards is pretty sure to be proved disastrous. Since cinemas reopened the reduction in turnover is estimated at 60%. How are we supposed to make it through the winter_is only impossible to guess," he noted leaving open the possibility of folds in several cinemas.
Panayiotis Tsakalakis argued that rent exemption for cinemas was not 100% in force. "We were paying 60% of the rent for ten out of the twelve months of 2020, having no receipts at all. It was only during three months in 2021 that we had full rent coverage. It is absolutely reasonable we demand the VAT reduced from 13% to 6%”.
“It should be noted that cinemas are buildings of large surface area, their rent amounts to several thousand euros per month, determined solely in relation to the tickets they are expected to be make seasonally, under normal circumstances”, he concluded.