CAIRO - Ever since the 25 January 2011, most Egyptians have been more interested in politics and economics than watching newly released movies, so the cinemas are feeling the pinch. Until a few months before the revolution, most young Egyptians eased the stress of everyday life by watching hit movies. You could see long queues of them outside the cinemas. But all that has changed. In post-revolution Egypt, Egyptians have become obsessed with the political and economic instability engulfing their country, with their desire for political talk shows surpassing their desire for movies on the silver screen. Cinemas in Egypt, which boast the Middle East's oldest film industry, have witnessed box office takings plummeting by about 30 per cent over the past year. Last summer, domestic box office revenues hit LE20 million, with the highest-grossing movie, Sami Oxid Al- Carbon, raking in less than LE8 million. This is very little compared to 2010, when a single film, Assal Eswed (Black Honey), grossed more than LE22 million. "Since the revolution, Egyptian cinema has been suffering, because we have had to cancel the production of many films and also postponed the screening of others. The picture houses are suffering," filmmaker Hisham Abdel-Khaleq told The Egyptian Gazette. "Due to the political unrest and lack of security, many cinema fans have stopped going to the movies. We have been trying to make up for the losses by selling the films, after they've been screened in the picture houses to satellite TV channels. “But we're facing another problem: the satellite channels are also suffering financially, because their revenue from ads has plunged. "A film might cost LE5 million to produce, while it might make only LE2 million at the box office. This is a huge loss. "In 2010, we only produced about 30 films and were planning produce about 40 last year to increase our profits. However, we ended up producing only 11 films," Abdel-Khaleq added. The shortage of movies in 2011 meant many cinema goers had to settle for US films, like Pirates of the Caribbean, On Stranger Tides and Transformers. Some US films, which were supposed to gross no more than LE1 million, made LE3 to LE4 million. "After all the turmoil, can Egyptian cinemas fend off the Hollywood threat?" Abdel-Khaleq asked. The box office takings were the worst ever last year, because of the political unrest and the curfew, which was lifted in mid-2011. But, amazingly, the takings in Eid Al-Adha last year were up 110 per cent on the previous year," says movie pundit Tareq el-Shenawi. Four films were released especially for Eid Al-Adha (the Greater Bairam), which began on November 6, 2011, three of them comedies, the other a tragedy. Only Ahmed Helmy's X-Large made the box office happy, while Ahmed Mekky's Cima Ali Baba was a flop, despite its tackling the issue of dictatorship.
