Tom Cruise brings the film lover back to the Dutch theaters

After two silent corona years, the large cinema chains in the Netherlands are doing well. Pathé and Kinepolis film theaters see visitor numbers slowly returning to the level of 2019, the last pre-corona year. One of the biggest drivers of this: Tom Cruise, with his latest film Top Gun: Maverick. Pathé received the millionth visitor for the film last week, making it one of the most successful films ever in the Netherlands. Already – the film is still running – he is good for a turnover of 11.5 million euros for Pathé in the Netherlands.

The fact that Cruise plays such a large part in keeping the sector afloat means for the American actor – as is often the case – that his mission has been successful for the time being. His movies are for the big screen, he said earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, not for streaming services. He turned down the idea of Top Gun debut online, instead of in the theatre. At a time when streaming services are becoming more and more popular, Cruise – who Top Gun co-produced – established itself as an ally of the cinema sector.

And they benefit from this, at least in the Netherlands: Top Gun is one of the most visited films of the moment in almost all cinemas where the film is shown. Major productions like Jurassic World: Dominion and Elvis are always among them. Also Minions: How Gru Became Super Villain, Thor: Love and Thunder and bullet train do it well. With this, the sector seems to rely mainly on blockbusters – while Netflix is ​​precisely stopped making thatbecause they would yield too little. In addition to the major international productions, Pathé also Moroccan Wedding well attended, a spokesperson said.

Corona crisis

The revival of the major Dutch cinemas contrasts with the situation in the United States. There is a threat of bankruptcy for cinema chain Cineworld, because the low visitor numbers of recent years do not recover quickly enough. A too limited supply of blockbusters – caused by production halts during the corona crisis – was one of the causes of the disappointing results, according to the chain itself. But high debts due to a failed takeover attempt also play a role.

How different is the situation for the Kinepolis cinema chain: it has so far received five times as many visitors as in the first half of last year, according to the half-year figures presented on Thursday. The Belgian Kinepolis has seventeen cinemas in the Netherlands, and in addition to Belgium, it is also active in France and Spain, among others.

The growth compared to 2021 at Kinepolis is not surprising. Last year, the theaters still had to deal with corona measures and lockdowns. These measures also applied for a while at the beginning of this year, so that the results for the first half of 2022 worldwide are not nearly as good as in 2019. This year the chain received 77 percent of the visitors in the first half of 2019.

Director of Kinepolis Eddy Duquenne sees that the cinema sector in the Netherlands and Belgium is shrinking faster than in Spain and the US, for example. “The restart in the Netherlands and Belgium was like switching the light on and off, suddenly the visitors were back. In other countries it was slower.” Cinemas in the Netherlands saw almost as many visitors as in 2019, despite the lockdown in January. The opening of two new halls – Haarlem and Leidschendam – helped in this regard. Kinepolis made 26.6 million euros in turnover in the Netherlands in the first half of 2022, compared to 28.7 million euros in 2019.

Streaming services

And that trend towards 2019 is continuing – even rising. In June this year Kinepolis saw 7 percent more visitors throughout the chain than in June 2019. Visitor numbers fell slightly in July, “who goes to sit inside a cinema with full sun?”, but from October Duquenne expects it to ” erupts”. Duquenne does not see streaming services as a competitor, he thinks they should rely more on series. “A terrace with warm weather, that is a competitor.”

Also read: Cinemas show off long, but uncertain line of blockbusters in 2021

At 93 percent, Kinepolis made almost as much turnover in its entire chain as in 2019: a combination of visitors who spend more and higher prices for tickets and drinks, says Duquenne. “We notice that people want more experience and are willing to pay for it. More people are opting for luxurious seats or ‘ultra’ performances, with better image and sound.”

At Pathé, unlike Kinepolis Netherlands, the visitor numbers still lag behind the record year 2019, when the Dutch cinemas according to figures from the Dutch Association of Cinemas and Film Theaters collectively welcomed 35 million visitors. It is expected that after the summer this will “improve”, says a Pathé spokesperson. Movies like Soof 3, Amsterdam, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water should contribute to this. Duquenne from Kinepolis also has great expectations of, again, the blockbusters.

No figures are yet available for Vue, the third major cinema chain that is active in the Netherlands.