A reflection on the sale of cinemas, “Fossil” and “Cinema Governance Manners”

Charso Press: These days, when Iranian cinema is dominated by comedies and different opinions are raised about the number of comedy films on the screen, being screened and in the production process, the flow of the cinema box office has also undergone changes, and perhaps from now on, other criteria will be used to compare high-profile films and Considered a bestseller. Currently, with a movie reaching 100 billion, the question arises whether from now on, the criterion for the success of movies in sales should be their entry into the hundred billion club; That’s in the situation that right now the difference between the first and second films in the cinema sales table alone is 100 billion tomans.

In this context, Iranian cinema expert Amirhossein Alam Elhadi pointed out that currently the cost of producing a film in terms of its actors and the extent to which it wants to influence the audience cannot be less than 15 billion tomans. The state of the films currently being released, we must remember that when we talk about a film (Fossil) becoming more than 100 billion, we are talking about a film that has attracted three million viewers and if we compare it with other films of this year Let’s compare, it must be a good thing because last year the movie “Infradi” as the best-selling movie of the year, in a long period of time finally brought two million and 400 thousand people to the cinema and reached sales of about 77 billion Tomans. “Dynamite” also sold 58 billion Tomans worth of tickets in 1400 with two million and 500,000 spectators, and if we want to look at the issue from the point of view of economics and statistics, we can see that the cinema’s situation is better than last year, because there is an increase of about 40-50%. It has audience and sales.

He added: The most important issue in increasing sales is the ticket price, which has increased by 35-40% compared to 1401. Last year, the average ticket price was 33,000 Tomans, and this year it reached 45,000 Tomans, which is about a 35% increase in ticket prices. If this trend continues, we have to see what films may break the record of “Fossil” or maintain this development, because now this comedy has managed to attract nearly 70% of cinema audiences since the beginning of this year, and this statistic, although in total It is good, but it is only good compared to the last three years and compared to 2018, we are still behind. However, we have to think to see if the number of moviegoers will reach 26.5 million people in 2018 at the end of this year.

Alam Elhadi reminded: Of course, we should not forget that this good growth is the result of one film, not several films, and this income earned for Iranian cinema belongs to one film. All over the world, there are limited films that have billion sales, such as “Avatar”, “Top Gun” or the animation “Super Mario”. In 1402, only one film has been able to improve an important part of the state of Iranian cinema, and this is something to be happy about, but we are facing some ifs and ifs as to whether other films have been able to achieve their minimum income or not, because accurate statistics of the amount Their budgets are not available and only one or two films seem to have managed to meet their minimum spend and the rest have been complete failures at the box office.

He continued: An important point is that in other countries of the world, if a film reaches 40-45% of its production cost in the cinema, it means that it has worked properly. About 30 to 35 percent are shown on platforms and TV and the rest are broadcast internationally, so it is a strategic mistake for us to bring the whole life and death of Iranian cinema to the cinema screen. In addition to the fact that the cinema screening should be profitable and will bring happiness, let’s not forget that if a film does not make a profit in the cinema screening, it does not necessarily mean a loss, because it is possible that in the process of handing over the rest of its rights, such as domestic screening, international broadcast And television will be profitable.

In the continuation of this conversation, Alam Elhadi talked about the recent meeting of the directors of the cinema organization and the agreement with the regulations for the screening of foreign films, and in response to whether he considers this type of decision to be a change in the governance of cinema; He emphasized on the issue that he emphasized earlier: Anyway, if the governing manners are to be changed, it should be in such a way that filmmakers make films with all tastes, because the variety of tastes, along with the screening of foreign films, makes cinema progress, and this means The governing manners of cinema need reflection and cinema is not where it should be now. Of course, Iranian cinema currently does not have the possibility to enter the world’s movie screening market because of the American “Damato” law and the current Hollywood and current sanctions, but in any case, it seems that if we want to achieve a clear way in cinema management, about 30% of the screening capacity of Iranian cinema It must be available to foreign films such as China, India or South Korea, which covers from about 50% to 35% of the capacity of their cinemas. In China, despite the ideological nature of the view compared to the United States, about 35 to 40 percent of its screening capacity has been allocated to the American cinema. Apart from the fact that we can show “Avatar” or the same animation “Super Mario”, for information. Second, such a possibility is not feasible for us, because the seven main American companies do not have the possibility of handing over a film to Iran, and whenever this lock is broken and the normal life of cinema is formed, it means that the Ministry of Guidance will only be responsible for the screening license with the least amount of censorship or If he is in charge of rating the films and follows up on the rest based on the supply and demand market and takes care of the cultural cinema, the situation will go smoothly.

He emphasized: Caring for cultural cinema has its own mechanism and it does not mean interfering and entering the market of supply and demand, but it includes mechanisms that can protect Iranian films and what the government likes, which means worrying about culture. is the public of the country, to help in the field of ticket pre-purchase, advertising, etc. Whenever the government reduces its presence in the supply and demand market, cinema will grow. Of course, in the field of construction permits, the necessary openings should also take place, and considering that we started a good year this year and they say that a year that is not good can be seen in its spring, we have to wait to see if this condition can continue until the end of the year or if it is just possible. A cool spring breeze.

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