Ban on bonbons and popcorn is a gut punch to French cinemas

MARLY-LE-ROI, France — No more munching, crunching and slurping at the movies in France: The country’s increasingly fraught fight against an unprecedented surge in coronavirus infections is putting a stop to eating and drinking at cinemas, just as they show signs of recovering from the brutal economic bashing of last year’s lockdowns.

COVID-19 measures that kicked in Monday, once New Year’s celebrations were out of the way, mean an enforced rest for popcorn machines and ice creams left in cold storage. The ban on eating and drinking, which will last at least three weeks, also applies to French theaters, sports venues and public transportation.

For cinema owners hoping to lure back movie fans who switched to home viewing during the pandemic, the inability to tempt them with candies and soft drinks is another blow.

French cinemas sold 96 million tickets in the eight months they were open in 2021, a jump of 47% compared with 2020. But ticket sales are down 55% from 2019, before the pandemic, the National Center for Film and Moving Images said last week in its look at annual sales.

Benoit Cine Distribution, which supplies 70% of France’s cinemas with popcorn, sweet treats and drinks, was deluged with delivery requests and order postponements from movie houses that were expecting strong sales on the final weekend before the ban, when “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “The Matrix Resurrections” were the major features.

“It’s like being told to apply the emergency brake to the high-speed train,” said Vincent Meyer, a director at Benoit.

Against raging coronavirus infections, the government is hoping its latest measures will apply a brake to the fast-spreading Omicron variant, but without derailing France’s economic recovery as President Emmanuel Macron faces reelection in April.

France’s COVID-19 death toll tops 125,000. New infections are higher than they have ever been, and hospitals have again become overburdened.

Michel Enten, manager of Le Fontenelle cinema in Marly-le-Roi, was relieved to stay open, even if he’ll not be able to sell snacks. He says he has lost about half of his clientele during the pandemic. He expects the ban on food and drinks to hit large cinemas hard but says it may help lure back some fans to smaller, arty movie houses like his.

“There are lots of people who hate hearing the sounds of popcorn in the auditoriums,” he said. “Perhaps we will win over new movie fans, people who were watching Netflix and are saying to themselves, ‘Now there’s no more popcorn — let’s run to the cinema.’ ”