Introduction
The aim of the White Book of the European Exhibition Industry
is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the European
cinema exhibition sector. The three papers that make up Volume 2 of the
White Book focus on particular issues relevant for exhibitors and those
national and supranational government authorities concerned with the development
of the film industry in general, and of exhibition in particular. These
issues include:
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the economic impact of multiplexes on the exhibition industry in Europe;
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the emerging vertical integration strategies of both European and non-European
cinema chains; and
-
the role of European cinemas for the promotion of European films.
The issue of multiplex cinemas has been a constant theme in the debate
over the future of the exhibition sector ever since the purpose-built multi-screen
complexes were first built in Europe after having been successfully introduced
in the US. Their success, particularly in the UK, has stirred the debate
about the need to introduce them on large scale in other countries which
already have a more modernised exhibition sector than the UK had in the
mid-eighties. And in those countries where they had been successfully introduced
the discussion focuses on the dangers of over-investment in excessive capacity
to the detriment of all exhibitors. A wide ranging analysis of the impact
of multiplex cinemas in Europe that is based on the survey of over 1,000
screens as well as economic and econometric analysis is timely and serves
to explain the success of multiplex cinemas from first principles as well
as from a careful analysis of empirical evidence.
The issue of vertical integration strategies by larger groups of both
European and non-European cinema chains is foremost a description of a
trend that is often discussed in the political debate. As in other industries
that have been traditionally characterised by a highly fragmented structure
of independently owned and operated enterprises, the strategies of larger
groups with significant involvement in other parts of the entertainment
industries, has raised the issue of whether the resulting concentration
of businesses worked for or against independent exhibitors. It also raises
the issue of the degree of control that integrated distribution and exhibition
companies can exercise along the exploitation chain. Section 2 serves to
focus this debate by demonstrating the current state of vertical integration
in Europe and by profiling the main group of companies that have a major
involvement in both exhibition and distribution.
The third and last section deals with the role that exhibition plays
in the promotion of European film, one of the aims of MEDIA Salles, an
initiative of the MEDIA Programme of the European Union with the support
of the Italian Government. It serves as a useful reminder of the specific
situation of cinema as the retailing function in the exploitation chain
of film. As general retailers of film cinemas try to attract a great number
of customers and rely on attractive products on the one hand and the maintenance
of well-equipped and modern outlets on the other hand. Unless they are
dedicated to the showing of a particular genre of film they offer an open
competitive structure for both European and non-European films.
What the case studies in section 3 try to demonstrate is the crucial
role of promotion at the distribution level rather than exhibition for
the promotion of European film.
With these three sections Volume 2 of the White Book contributes to
a better understanding of the crucial issues that affect policy making
at both the Community level and the national level. The analysis deepens
the findings from the survey of exhibition in Volume 1, particularly as
it relates to the diversity of the exhibition sector across European countries
and the common trends of modernisation, concentration and integration.