French theaters protest windows change
Cinemas act against change to release windows
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Theaters dim their lights between 6 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, the opening day for new film releases.
Regulated by the government, Gaul’s release-window schedule ensures that theater exhibitors, DVD distributors and TV channels each have their own window of exclusivity.
The antipiracy Hadopi law, which was passed in May, has brought pay video-on-demand and DVD release windows down to four months. Previously, Gallic theaters had a six-month window of exclusivity.
Now, Gallic exhibs say they fear the new release-window schedule will cause a significant reduction in cinema attendance in France and the “degrading of theater owners’ economic conditions.”
But, according to just-released figures from France’s CNC film board, the French box office in the year’s first nine months was 3.4% up on 2008.
Set up by the French theaters association, FNCF, the operation “Lights Out” on Wednesday also aims at getting the French government to compensate theater owners for the gap between the rise in ticket sales, which has increased by 11%, and inflation, which has hiked by 19% in the past 10 years. Org is asking the government to waive business taxes for theater owners.
