San Francisco Frontiers - Paris's arthouse cinemas adapt to battle decline

The centre of the City of Light has the highest density of silver screens in the world per capita and arguably one of the most cinephile local populations.

That has long supported its dense network of picture houses -- around 80 today -- where film lovers can catch classics and auteur productions in sometimes cramped conditions and with spartan decoration.

But with the rise of streaming, the popularity of high-end home cinema equipment, as well as cut-throat competition from deep-pocketed multiplex chains, the independents are facing an existential crisis.

Nowhere can the transformation of the sector be seen more clearly than the Champs-Elysees area.

In 2014, cinemas on the famous avenue sold 1.9 million tickets.

Ten years later, the figure had dropped to just 133,000, according to data from Paris city hall, which subsidises the sector.

Today, only a handful of cinemas remain, the others having shut down in favour of luxury boutiques and tourist-oriented shops.

In 2019, the owners of the Elysees-Lincoln, one of the survivors, asked themselves whether they should "close it, transform it or turn it into something other than a cinema", said Louis Merle, who runs the venue with his brother Samuel, along with two other theatres.

"We decided it would remain a cinema because we are passionate, but we had to find a new economic model," he told AFP.

- 'Unthinkable' -

After travelling to several countries, the brothers opted to create a "modular" cinema.

One of the screens can "within an hour" be turned into a reception room able to host up to 200 people.

To suit the upmarket neighbourhood, they carried out high-end renovations and created a "luxury cinema" with carefully designed interiors at a cost of nearly 2.3 million euros.

"It was unthinkable to see another cinema close on the Champs-Elysées," he added, saying that maintaining culture on the famous avenue was an "activist" act.

Their project forms part of the current trend of converting cinemas into "premium" venues, offering high comfort and upgraded visual and sound quality.

"The audience is becoming increasingly scarce. You have to win it back by offering exemplary conditions in terms of welcome, comfort and projection quality," said Richard Patry, president of the National Federation of French Cinemas (FNCF).

Cinema attendance has fallen by around 15 percent in 2025 compared with 2024, and experts say the sector may never regain the levels seen before the Covid-19 epidemic in 2020, which closed theatres and changed consumer behaviour.

Industry watchers say this year's figures have also suffered from a lack of local French-language hits or buzzy Hollywood blockbusters to drive footfall.

Paris, however, stands out, with an average of 8.03 cinema entries per inhabitant per year, compared with 2.73 nationwide, according to figures from the National Centre for Cinema (CNC).

- 'Resist' -

Other independent cinemas have chosen to reorganise their already limited space to open new screens and increase capacity.

Fabien Houi, who runs the Brady in the 10th arrondissement (district), hopes to almost double annual admissions from 65,000 to 100,000 thanks to the opening of a third screen with 34 seats.

"You have to come up with things within your means and possibilities, even in terms of space, to try to survive," he told AFP, covered in construction dust amid the unfinished worksite.

Opening a new screen when attendance is falling may seem counter-intuitive.

But the experience of the Grand Action, in the heart of the Latin Quarter near Notre-Dame cathedral, also supports the idea.

Since opening a new 27-seat screen in 2022, owner Isabelle Gibbal-Hardy said she has almost doubled the number of releases she can host per year and "attendance has risen far more than expected" -- all while continuing to offer an arthouse programme.

O.Green--SFF