The exhibiting company Cine Yelmo has just turned 40 years of history and celebrate with a firm commitment to the future of movie theaters. The company has 53 operating centers in 23 Spanish provinces and more than 530 screens after the opening of its first cinema in Cantabria. Fernando Évole, Country Manager of Cine Yelmo, He is the head of the firm in Spain. Linked to the cinema since he was born, his family ran a cinema in Villalba (Madrid), the origin of Yelmo, where he grew up, has experienced expansion as an executive and now works for Cinépolis, the Mexican company that a few years ago acquired the Spanish company. Between the satisfaction for Yelmo’s birthday and the hope of recovery of attendance at theaters after difficult times of the pandemic, he answers CINEMANÍA’s questions. At CINEMANÍA we believe in cinema in theaters as a cultural experience it is essential, but we are very concerned about the future of the exhibition, at what point are the cinemas? We do not have a crystal ball, but what we do want to confirm is that The exhibition sector, after what we have suffered with the pandemic, continues to be one of the key options, if not the most important, for family leisure that exists outside the home, and that is a reality worldwide.
Will it return to pre-pandemic levels? Well, surely yes, with the rise of cinema in new countries. What is true is that in mature countries, with the impact of the pandemic, the recovery is slower. The brake on the Pandemic, with the physical limitations and the lack of content or less interesting content, was noticeable, but despite that we have grown: in 2021 compared to 2020, in 2022 compared to 2021, and in 2023 it will grow more. Our estimate is that in 2024 we will reach pre-pandemic levels, that we could be around 100 million viewers. That is what we work for, but I am convinced that if the titles are there, there is the promotion, communication and marketing by the distributors, and we put all our efforts into giving our customers the best experience, we will reach them. Then there is the rise of platforms… How can you deal with the overwhelming competition of content available from home? For us it is not competition. Our main client is the one who watches the most content at home, the one who has Netflix, Filmin, Disney, Amazon, HBO… That is the one who comes to the cinema the most. We are products that cover different needs. One thing is, what do I do with my time at home: I read, I play with my children, I cook, I watch a movie. And another is us, who offer leisure outside the home. What do you do when you leave home? Cinema, theater, restaurants, a walk, football… We compete with that, and we have to offer a better option than all those competitors, leisure options away from home. With all this, how do we convince the public to return or to continue going to the cinema? For that, the content must be in the first place, which is interesting so that people come to the cinema. But there must also be promotion and communication to cause that person to leave the house and come see a movie. And then there has to be the cinema with all the service and the improved experience. And we are also working on that, investing in improving the experience, with differentiated formats, improving technology, sound, seats, projection, 3D… We see how the offer of premium cinemas in large capitals has grown lately… Is the Is the Luxury experience transferable to all cinemas in Spain? The standard of the cinema experience is going to rise, and it is already growing based on premium formats, Luxury, differential formats, giant screens, surround sounds… This is making the theater average is much higher than it was 3 or 4 years ago. That’s going to continue, but that doesn’t mean that all theaters have to be luxury or premium either. There will be everything, just like in restaurants you can have a tapa or you can go to a five forks, and you will choose one type of cinema or another depending on your tastes or your budget. So in terms of experience, we already know that the offer is going to grow. Now what is needed is for there to be movies and strong titles, and promotion by the distributors, who spend money. You insist a lot on the issue of promoting distributors. Do you see a certain, real danger in that they stop doing it? No, it is not a danger, but it is a whiting that bites its own tail. When the market is weaker, movies make less money and then I invest less money because I don’t know if I’m going to get it back, which means that I have less ability to convince viewers to go see my movie. That is a spiral that you have to get out of. So if you depend on the movies that are promoted the most, do you go hand in hand with the phenomenon movies? And what happens with the most alternative cinema? What is your line of content? Variety is essential for us. We cannot think that the rooms will only work with blockbusters or megahits, firstly because there are not enough of them, and secondly because they do not attract all audiences, and there is an audience out there that wants to see other types of content. We want as many audiences as possible to come, those of blockbuster and those of a more alternative cinema that also wants to come to a theater to enjoy it, in a good cinema, in a good seat. But the inertia seems to be that of consuming the great premieres in the cinema and the average films at home. That is what we have to recover. That average quality film that we all get together that works, and for that the promotion and commitment to these films is essential. By showing a film in a cinema, people will not come to see it, you have to communicate it and promote it so that people come, and that must be encouraged. The media are an important part of that sequence. Totally. And I’m sure you’ve noticed it too. Not only does it have to be released, the films have to be sold by all possible means. Will the number of rooms grow? Is an expansion still possible? We have opened some rooms during the pandemic, we opened in San Fernando (Cádiz), in Vigo and in Badajoz. We have just opened 7 screens in Santander, the Peñacastillo cinema, but they are very punctual and very surgical openings, in places where we saw that there was still room to open. Next year we open in Jaén. It is punctual, because we believe that the number of theaters in the sector is reaching a point where it is not going to grow anymore. We are looking at how to improve the cinemas we already have, how to renew them so that the experience of our customers improves. And the prices? How could they evolve? So far in recent years they have not grown at the same rate as improvements in theaters. The experience has been improved more than the prices have gone up. The value for the price paid has gone up and is getting better. Now, with such brutal inflation, prices are going to rise, something of that has to be transferred to the customer, but we will try to keep the cinema an affordable leisure option for everyone. There are few family leisure options where you can spend 2 or 3 hours in a place of entertainment, with the service, comfort, attention, cleanliness, air conditioning of our cinemas… There is no other similar sector that offers you this service at these prices. And how are the coming months coming? There are other territories that have recovered faster but we are in good shape, the forecast is good for next year, this Christmas is going to be very important. We are going to have key content with Avatar and with other films that will draw the public around them, then the Oscars will come and we will have good titles. This is good, the sector is growing, although it is growing slowly, and that is why it will have its tensions and its adjustments to be able to be profitable at those levels… Even the majors [grandes distribuidoras multinacionales] They have completely changed the discourse: during the pandemic, with people at home, the discourse was to see how I can boost my streaming platform or take the movies to a platform. Now the speech is already: I am going to have x films between now and 2024 and I am going to release them in the cinema and make money. The future is more than assured, another thing is that we have a few years of slow recovery. Dating Avatar, the second part is here (Avatar: The Sense of Water) also in 3D, with the expectation of several more sequels, and even the revival of the classic has worked… The revival of the first film has been a success and now when premiere [16 de diciembre]In the first 6 weeks or two months, I estimate that 4.5 million viewers will go see it and they will drag more people to the cinema. Almost 5 million people who travel, leave their homes, go to the cinema, watch the movie and there they go to see trailers for other releases, and people who have not been here for months are going to see that the cinema is improved, that it is I’m sure we’ve renewed seats… They’re going to have a good experience, and we have to get these people to come back, to do it again, that there be continuity with these titles and that those people who surely come to the cinema at Christmas continue to come to the rest of the year. It’s been many years in Yelmo, but how did you get into the movie business? I was born in a movie theater. I was lucky that my family, in this case my father, started in the sector when I was born, with a small cinema, some theaters in Villalba, and that is where I grew up, in a cinema, seeing how it worked and how it grew. the rooms. I grew as the company grew. After training in Spain and Los Angeles, and having worked in different companies, I joined the family business, when it was Yelmo Cines, until 2006 when I became General Director, and in 2015 the company changed shareholders, we left of being owners. Cinépolis is the owner, and I am an executive of Cinépolis, which is the second largest exhibition company in the world. A very successful Mexican company with a great track record, a family business also dedicated to cinema, film lovers who have opted for Spain, and we continue there, delighted. That origin is an interesting plus, you are not a typical executive, a skydiver who could be in any company. Yes, this is a business that engages. Almost everyone who has worked in this sector is hooked on it in some way. And I, who have sucked it since I was little, am hooked. In the end, in this sector history does not lie: it has been going on for more than 100 years, it has gone through world wars, a lot of disruptions from other businesses that have tried to keep that part of the business. When TV came out, the cinema was going to disappear; Then when video and VHS, DVD, BluRay appeared, and streaming arrived… It is very important to differentiate: they are different experiences. It is one thing to enjoy content at home and another to enjoy content outside the home in a movie theater with a shared experience with a community of people. It is not the same to watch a comedy alone at home than in a room with the whole audience bursting with laughter. They are different sensations. And compatible, and what you have to look for is the balance so that all these businesses coexist. There is also the hospitality part, the food offer in movies in premium cinemas. Even the most moviegoers are understanding it, it seems that it is not as invasive as it seems, that it does not bother too much, the pass is still quiet. The restoration part is a fundamental complement to the profitability of cinemas. If we did not have the option of being able to sell food and drinks, we would not be profitable. We have to be able to develop that business, because people enjoy it.
Fernando Évole (Cinema Yelmo): "Avatar 2′ will attract nearly 5 million viewers. The future of cinema is assured"
