Cinemas have reconsidered the economy – Kommersant FM
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Tickets to Russian cinemas have risen to record levels – the cost of going to a show in the first month of 2024 was at its highest since 2015, according to data from the Cinema Fund. According to statistics, from January 1 to January 8, the average price in the country was slightly below 400 rubles. The average figure over the past few years is about 300 rubles.
What caused this growth? Roman Isaev, a member of the board of the Association of Cinema Owners, explains the situation by saying that the industry has been operating at a loss for a long time against the backdrop of rising costs. And, according to him, this year the ticket price may rise even more: “For more than ten years, cinemas practically did not raise the ticket price at all, keeping it at the level of 200 rubles. It grew literally within 10%.
There came a certain point, starting with the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, when it became expensive to maintain the material and technical base of cinemas, pay rising rents, salaries and taxes, and purchase food for the cinema bar. Venues were forced to raise prices.
If we look now at the final price increase and take a horizon of 10-12 years, we will see that the cost of a ticket has risen less than twice, despite the fact that everything else has risen in price multiple times.
Cinemas will try to follow some lower price increase scale so that it is comfortable for viewers. This year it will not exceed 20% of the level we saw on New Year’s Day.”
Attendance at cinemas during the New Year holidays also turned out to be a record. From January 4 to January 10, almost 9.5 million people visited them. Subsequently, weekly figures fell almost threefold. At the same time, not all market players note the rise in ticket prices. The industry lacks foreign films, but domestic films are gradually closing this deficit, and there is no reason to seriously increase prices, says director of the GUM Cinema Hall Eteri Kakhidze:
“Our ticket price has not changed for many years. And on New Year’s it was exactly the same as on an ordinary weekday. Probably, some cinemas raise prices due to inflation or some other reason. But, to be honest, I haven’t heard of any sites reviewing them specifically for the New Year holidays, and then returning them back.
Winter holidays always have the highest attendance of the year. The majors have left, and, unfortunately, there are no blockbusters in the same quantity. But there is a large amount of arthouse smart cinema, French and Italian films. Plus, there are many more good Russian films. It would be better, of course, if the majors returned to us, but now everything is not bad.”
The pricing policy of cinemas in 2024 will depend on several factors, and tickets may either become more expensive or cheaper, noted the head of the joint cinema chain Formula Kino and Cinema Park, Alexey Vasyasin: “At the level of 400 rubles, prices should probably resist. Much will depend on the availability of technology. If our Russian producers finally start filming in 3D or in the former IMAX format, then this will make increasing ticket prices expedient, because this is such a large premium format.
And if there are good releases for which demand exceeds supply, then tickets will probably become more expensive. If none of this happens, then, most likely, we, on the contrary, will see a decrease in prices. The remaining cinemas will dump money in the fight for viewers and go into some kind of negative economy.”
Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova reported that Russian cinemas set another record during these New Year holidays. According to her, total box office receipts in the first week of the year reached almost 6 billion rubles, of which 5.5 billion rubles. brought domestic films. At the same time, for the entire January, according to the UAIS system, cinemas earned almost 9.5 billion rubles.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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