After the pandemic, leisure habits have changed dramatically. Many blamed the docks, others saw the bars as the enemy… the truth is that people forgot to return to the cinemas, causing a sharp drop in the number of spectators, especially those who were fundamental for theaters, adult audiences, far from the public. specific phenomena, and who went week after week to see more cinephile films. Three years later, this gap has not been closed and everyone is looking for solutions to return to this old normal.
Recovering this adult audience was one of the great struggles of cinema operators, and the Ministry of Culture understood that it was necessary to come to the aid of cinemas and help them in this mission. This is how the “Tuesdays at the Cinema” initiative was born, launched in July 2023, thanks to which those over 65 can go to the cinema for just two euros. That’s why the initiative quickly became known as “Tuesdays for Seniors.”
Its success was resounding. The Federation of Cinema Exhibitors quantified the increase in attendance on Tuesdays at 49% compared to the previous year. It went from 2.7 million to four million viewers. It also improved by 23% compared to 2019. In total, during these first months, almost a million viewers benefited from the program.
If it has already enjoyed success in 2023, it has consolidated in 2024 as a fundamental initiative, also for Spanish cinema. On Tuesday, October 1, the three most viewed films were, thanks to the influx of this audience, Spanish: My name is Nevenka, The Red Virgin and The 47. With the other Spanish film, The sparks, Together they generated nearly 250,000 euros, the equivalent of a screen share of 38% of the total and 50,000 viewers.
The sparks, For example, he placed fifth by winning 52,300 euros, a figure almost equal to what he achieved on Saturday. That is to say, for an adult film, Tuesdays are now as important as a weekend day. 120,000 spectators went to the cinema, a figure which represents almost a third of the people who did so over the weekend. The straw that fills this success was experienced with The infiltrator, he thriller by Arantxa Echevarría about a mole woman from ETA which this Tuesday became number one at the box office with a haul of 250,000 euros. On Friday, the opening day, it stood at 220,000 people.
The Spanish Federation of Film Exhibitors (FECE) describes this experience as “very positive, without a doubt”. “We manage to mobilize the public who were most affected by the pandemic and who took the longest to return to the cinema and, in addition, we see how this initiative gives an important boost to Spanish and European cinema, with these films are most watched by older people”, affirms Luis Gil, general director of the institution, who also points out that not only those who left have returned, but that the figures indicate that “new spectators are joining them”.
They do not believe that attendance is only a question of price, since the presence of the public is even greater on weekends, when there are no discounts, but they believe that these policies of attraction of a less frequent audience in cinemas should be moved “to others” targets, like young people. » What they have no doubt about is that the promotion must continue.
At the moment it will be active until December 31, and although everyone is convinced that it will continue, they also ask for foresight so as not to leave a few months empty: “It would be desirable that it be considered an annual multi-project system to avoid the interruption that occurs from the end of the year on December 31 until it is restarted with a new call. This situation is currently causing a few very important months of non-application of the program, in the first quarter of the year, where it would be very well used.”
The Ministry of Culture assures that “the will of the ICAA is to maintain this measure for 2025, because it has already been transferred to the sector, receiving its support” and describes it as “very positive”. The measurement data is also advanced “over the first four months of validity of the program during 2024, between May and August”: 600,000 senior viewers, or 22% of the total. “The initiative contributes to recovering the public over 65 years of age who, in part, had stopped going to the cinema during the pandemic and after the pandemic and who are returning to the cinema,” they emphasize.
Smart help
These figures not only benefit cinemas, but also the companies that distribute these types of films. The Association of Independent Film Distributors (ADICINE) estimates that if in 2023 “it took a little time to get going, now everyone knows it”. “The public has become accustomed to it, and they now even wait until Tuesday to go to the cinema to see these titles. Our films noticed that suddenly, on Tuesdays, they sneak into the top ten,” explains its president Lara Pérez Camiña. Tuesdays also serve as an opportunity to “see the word of mouth that the films will have”.
It would be desirable for this to be a multi-year project to avoid the interruption that occurs from the end of December 31 until its resumption.
Luis Gil
— Director General of FECE,
“It’s not that a Tuesday is better than a Saturday, but it’s better than a Friday, that’s for sure”, he emphasizes and gives conclusive data, there have been Tuesdays in August with “around a million people attending theaters.” This is why they are united in asking that this measure is not temporary, but that it be maintained and encouraged to continue to make themselves known. Adolfo Blanco, director of the Verdi cinemas, one of the nerve centers of Madrid and Barcelona, is of the same opinion, and he is convinced that the measure “will undoubtedly be maintained”. “It absolutely must be maintained. At the Ministry of Culture, this must be an absolutely priority measure,” he adds.
He describes it as a very “intelligent” aid, because it also helps to change opinion on subsidies. “It’s very easy to attack a subsidy that goes to businesses or the world of cinema, but here, the viewer is subsidized. This is the most popular thing to do. Who can question this if the main beneficiary is the citizen? I hope this measure will last for many years. “They know that this is a medicine that does not consist of administering it for a few years, but that it is a very complicated sector and they have found a key here that I think it won’t be long before they copy it in other countries,” he said. said.
At Verdi, the result is indisputable, since “the days of the week are very similar to the weekend, which did not happen before”. “We are in figures close to the best times for elderly people. It is true that weekdays are quite favored, but in terms of spectators, practically from Monday to Thursday, we achieve in a few weeks the same thing, or even a little more, than from Friday to Sunday, and the turning point is that there are more people during the week every day it was Tuesday at the cinema. A demonstration of how measures financed by public money can reverse a situation that frightened cinemas.
