PolicyKey policy positions
Key Policy Positions
UNIC engages with both the European institutions and the industry to provide a voice for cinema exhibition. Through organising events, producing publications and position papers and meeting with high-level policy makers, we strive to convey the social, cultural and economic importance of cinemagoing along with the industry perspective on key policy issues. You will find more information on our key policy positions below, in our annual report here and our manifesto here.
In Europe, the broad range of cinemas, from independent one-screen theatres to larger arthouses and multiplexes, plays a pivotal role in sustaining European diversity and provides vibrant community hubs that bring people together. They cater to diverse tastes, showcasing European content as well as mainstream releases, ensuring the widest possible audience has the opportunity to discover and enjoy a rich variety of films. Beyond their direct contribution to GDP, job creation, rent payments and local taxes, cinemas also create immeasurable value for the entire European film industry. This is an industry with an unparalleled record of innovation, and which continues to deliver.
Cinemas and theatrical release remain the backbone of the European film industry. They provide the opportunity for the widest possible audience to discover and enjoy as broad a range of film content as possible, offering unique cultural and social experiences for audiences and creating unparalleled excitement around releases.
Ultimately, cinema releases drive performance and audience awareness across all platforms and markets and contribute significantly to the financing and diversity of European works. For example, the success of a film on VOD is strongly correlated to the prior success of the film in cinemas, as value has already been created. According to a US study, the majority of the most popular films on streaming platforms in 2022 were theatrical-first releases. For example, three out of Netflix’s top five most viewed film releases of 2022 had a theatrical window before their streaming release. Another study from 2022 proved that theatrical films recorded 74 per cent more viewed hours on VOD in the first 28 days from their streaming release than straight to-streaming films.
Theatrical release serves as a marketing platform and a clear ‘signal of quality’ for streaming consumers. For European content, VOD availability is linked to admissions during theatrical exploitation. The more successful a film is in cinema, the higher the probability that it will succeed on VOD. The number of theatrical release markets and VOD country availability for a given title are correlated. In the same way, 82 per cent of the films not available on VOD in EUR-21 had only one theatrical release market. While only 31 per cent of theatrical films with fewer than 1,000 admissions were available on VOD, over 88 per cent of films with more than 250,000 admissions were on VOD. This increases to 96 per cent for films with more than a million admissions and to 99 per cent for films with more than five million (European Audiovisual Observatory).
In a market characterised by cultural and linguistic differences, cinemas provide an opportunity for people to understand and express their sense of local, national and European identity, and seek to engage both young and old and those from different backgrounds, ultimately celebrating European diversity. Cinemas also create popular, and more niche, culture within a country when a film or a moment in a film becomes iconic. These moments become part of national culture. Regardless of their size or location, they are modern meeting places that help stimulate dialogue on a range of important issues, combat social exclusion, revitalise interest in culture and foster innovation and creativity. Cinemas provide their local areas with highly-valued resources and a trusted haven for a broad range of local communities.
Cinemas contribute to each country’s GDP, create local jobs, pay rent and local taxes. In France, CNC data shows that 15,218 people were employed in cinemas in 2022. In Italy, 18,000 people, in Germany about 25,000, which means close to 100,000 people are employed in cinemas in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the UK alone.
Cinemas create value for the entire European film industry – revenues from cinema tickets are redistributed, contributing to the creation and promotion of a vast range of content and the overall well-being of the European cultural sector. Cinemas also have above-average multiplier effects on neighbouring commercial activities, contributing to urban regeneration by creating new jobs and attracting investors, small businesses and new residents. A study carried out in Belgium by Vertigo on behalf of Cinedata in 2018–19 reveals that 33.5 per cent of visitors combined a visit to the cinema with another leisure activity. Overall, 3.5 million cinemagoers said they had visited a bar before or after the film, 2.5 million had gone to a restaurant, and a further 500,000 completed their evening at the cinema with another activity.
Cinemas across Europe - regardless of size or location - make significant contributions to cultural diversity, are essential to the commercial and cultural success of the European film industry, and have a powerful social influence. In order to help our industry thrive, it is crucial that European legislation related to the film sector - including the Geo-blocking Regulation, the Portability Regulation and the Broadcasters’ Regulation - do not undermine the key principles on which our industry depends, namely territoriality of copyright and theatrical exclusivity. As such, time and territorial exclusivity are strongly interlinked with each other.
Exclusive theatrical film releases help celebrate the culture of cinema-going and create unparalleled excitement around specific films - a strategy that ultimately benefits all stakeholders in the value chain.
Contracts and the exclusive rights to create value around a film in different markets help produce, finance and distribute films effectively to the benefit of audiences. Any attempts to remove the territorial nature of copyright and licensing would have a significantly negative impact on cinema exhibition.
There is no corrective measure that would be able to mitigate the possible negative aspects of a ban of geoblocking practices. There is a general lack of understanding with regards to the value of different film markets - cinema exhibition, VOD, DVD, pay TV, free TV –, windows and territorial exclusivity and that all industry stakeholders have to work together to increase overall film revenue across all of these markets, in order to continue to provide the best content possible to all audiences and create job and economic growth in the EU.
Europe is a fragmented market for European films due to its many cultures and languages. This diversity is the key reason behind the often-low demand for non-national European films. Many films require time and investment before they can be viably released outside their country of origin, only when and where consumer demand emerges and with the help of local partners who promote films at the local level. EU titles that experience cross-border success first do well in their country and are then sold territory by territory.
Lifting geoblocking would lead to a deterioration of cultural diversity in Europe and less choice for European audiences – both in terms of content but also means of watching it –, weaker circulation and distribution to local European audiences and a concentration of power in the hands of dominant players across the whole industry.
On 3 December 2020, the European Commission published its Media and Audiovisual Action Plan, which guides the European Commission’s strategy linked to the film and audiovisual sector. The Plan was completed by the Council’s conclusions and by the European Parliament’s report. The Plan lists 10 actions, themselves divided under Recovery, Transformation and Empowerment. UNIC is taking part in several working groups and is following the implementation of each action.
Film theft is the biggest threat to the well-being of the film industry, including cinemas. Given the commitment of cinema operators in the fight against film theft, UNIC welcomes concrete actions that could potentially improve the enforcement of intellectual property rights and ensure that ongoing copyright infringements are prevented, that all intermediaries contribute to this endeavour and that the robust EU rules concerning copyright enforcement are implemented more effectively across all Member States. These initiatives at EU level include the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Directive and the Digital Services Act.
Cinema operators enter into exclusive licence agreements with film distributors to acquire a theatrical licence for a film in a specific territory. By committing a certain share of their box office income to the film distributor in return, as well as investing in state-of-the-art cinemas, operators make significant contributions to a dynamic sector. Any illegal film-viewing or recording deprives cinema operators, film distributors, producers and creators of important revenues and prevents further investment into the creation and distribution of future works. It endangers the diversity as well as the competitiveness of European cinema, putting much-needed jobs for millions of Europeans working in the creative industries at risk.
Cinema operators and their national associations engage in a range of activities to prevent film theft. They also rely on the respective legal frameworks in their territories, through a combination of civil remedies and criminal sanctions.
Given the significant and, highly financial implications and damages copyright infringement causes to the cinema industry through losses in revenues and the erosion of the value of rights, UNIC believes that an ambitious approach to tacking film theft at both the European and national level, would benefit cinemas as well as the entire film value-chain, and is essential in ensuring the continued growth of the industry.
The Audiovisual Media Services Directive governs EU-wide coordination of national legislation on all audiovisual media. The Directive includes provisions that provide the legal basis for film release windows (Article 8).
The revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive (2018) preserves the legal basis for film release windows and introduces the ability for Member States to request financial contributions, including those to national funds, from on-demand services based in other Member States but targeting their national audiences (Article 13.2). This Article reflects a key concern for UNIC, to ensure fairer competition between all stakeholders.
Creative Europe MEDIA is a support programme for the European film and television industries that primarily supports film distribution activities. Via the programme, the EU also supports the Europa Cinemas network, which provides training and networking opportunities as well as financial support to theatres that screen an above-average amount of non-national European films, itself seen as one of the most successful strands of the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme.
MEDIA should continue to support cinemas as a central, vital and crucial component of the film value chain. The revenue that is generated in cinemas is redistributed in the value chain, allowing for creation, production and distribution of more European films.
Supporting initiatives that engage people with cinema-going is therefore essential, via the Europa Cinemas network and additional initiatives such as film literacy schemes, training and mentoring activities to adapt to new market developments and digital technologies and promoting European works in industry events and fairs in Europe and beyond: independent distributors, producers and cinema operators should be encouraged and supported to attend industry events that go beyond film festivals, such as CineEurope. Some national initiatives could also inspire other funding projects such as national cinema days.
Over a decade ago, cinemas invested massively into the transition to digital cinema thanks also to the support of the MEDIA programme. This monumental shift not only transformed the cinematic landscape, but it also increased the supply of European films to the Big Screen and allowed a more dynamic and flexible programming for diverse audiences. Now cinemas across Europe are facing a second wave of modernisation, with their digital equipment becoming increasingly obsolete and they need to invest in more energy-efficient and higher quality equipment, such as laser projectors. Support from MEDIA for the modernisation of ageing cinema equipment could help European cinemas remain competitive and continue to innovate.
In parallel, MEDIA should consider investing in a project that enables existing EU-funded networks to seek advice from, or involve professionals from, major European distribution and exhibition outfits. These companies don’t necessarily fulfil the funding criteria of MEDIA but possess knowledge about trends and business strategies that independent players would benefit from. One could also consider creating new incentives to promote the circulation of European works in cinemas and make it relevant for bigger operators.
MEDIA could also consider creating incentives to support the opening of new cinemas in “cinema deserts”, i.e. areas in Europe with low screen density. This would help bringing art, culture and entertainment more equally to all regions of Europe, promoting education, inclusion and democratic values.
Finally, MEDIA should also focus on supporting theatrical releases through the automatic and selective distribution schemes and ensure that these two mechanisms continue to benefit cinemas.
The broader issue of sustainability remains prominent on the EU institutions’ agenda, as evident through the European Commission’s EU Green Deal, for instance and a focus of the Next Generation EU (2021-2027 EU budget) which requires Member States to dedicate 30% of their national recovery plans to the greening of the economy.
UNIC has launched two working groups focusing on sustainability in the European cinema industry, with a focus on retail and technology. The UNIC Circular Economy Retail Group was launched in November 2019, while a working group specifically looking at cinema technology and energy efficiency was created in January 2022.
Cinemas are doing more and more to limit their carbon footprint via insulating buildings, upgrading the heating and ventilation systems, increasing automation to limit energy consumption, switching to laser projectors and choosing green energy providers. Sustainability in cinemas also concerns concessions, with cinemas experimenting reusable or recyclable packaging for their food and beverage offerings, and programming, with film cycles dedicated to ecology and environment to raise awareness among audiences.
Cinema operators are dedicated to enabling everyone to visit their cinemas and as a result make significant investments in improving access to their theatres and in relevant facilities. Everyone should have the opportunity to watch their favourite films on the Big Screen. Cinema operators have therefore implemented innovative models for increasing accessibility, often on a voluntary basis. In many cases, these voluntary solutions make government regulation unnecessary. However, when the government chooses to act, the best solutions have incorporated input from both exhibitors and cinema-goers themselves.
Cinema exhibitors around the world acknowledge that music is an integral part of the movie-going experience and that composers and lyricists, like all other contributors to the creative processes of movie making, deserve appropriate rewards for their contributions. The majority of cinemas across UNIC territories make substantial payments to collecting societies to ensure that songwriters, composers and other creators are adequately rewarded for the use of their works in films and theatres. However it is important that the royalties paid are a fair and appropriate reflection of the value that music provides to the overall experience. There is also the need to ensure transparency in the system so that it is clear how performers are rewarded for their work.
In 2022, 5-years after the transposition deadline, the European Commission concluded that there was no need to review the Collective Rights Management Directive.