30/12/2002

20 December saw first closure of a French multi-screen. The end of the Majestic Caissargues, situated in Nimes and owned by Bac Majestic, has reopened the long-standing debate into whether France has reached saturation point as far as the number of multiscreens operating nationwide.
The 8-screen cinema complex has a 1,480 seating capacity for an estimated 500,000 visitors annually and it opened its doors to business exactly two years ago. However, reality fell short of expectations; and although tickets cost just Euros3.81, just 300,000 were sold in 2001 and 250,000 in 2002. Similar attendance figures convinced Bac Majestic to close shop after they ran into heavy financial problems and were unable to head off competition from Nimes other multi-screen, the Forum Kinepolis and its 600,000 visitors in 2002. The 5000-square-meter Majestic cost over Euros6.8million to build, and the property has now been put on the market.
The first multi-screens reached France in 1993 but since 1999, the number of new ones being built has gradually fallen from 19 in 2000, to 14 in 2001 and just 6 as of 31 August 2002. Nonetheless, multi-screens continue to attract a growing slice of the French film going public and 40 per cent choose to see a film at a multiplex. There are currently 103 multi-screens and 1,234 screens operating in France, with a total seating capacity of 256,000.

(Translated from French)