By not showing “Strange World” in theaters, Disney is going to war against French cinema

This is information that has had the effect of a bomb in the battle that the streaming platforms and the actors of French cinema have been fighting for months. The American cinema giant Disney announced on Wednesday June 8 that it would deprive French theaters of its next animated film, Strange World, to broadcast this blockbuster directly on its online platform at the end of 2022. “This is the consequence of the ‘media chronology’ as practiced in France which we consider unfair, restrictive and unsuited to the expectations of our audiences”, declared to the newspaper Les Echos the French president of Disney, Hélène Etzi. The decision will only apply in France. The media timeline governs when movies can be released, including streaming and TV, in the months following their theatrical release. According to the new agreement reached at the end of January, platforms that have not signed this agreement, including Disney +, must wait 17 months before being able to broadcast their films after their cinema release. They still pass in front of the free television channels, the latter still broadcasting the films 22 months after the theatrical release. >> Read also: How Netflix wants to restrict the number of users who watch its content for free This device aims to protect cinemas, by giving them the scoop, but also the channels and broadcasters who finance cinema. France
thus seeks to preserve the diversity of its film production, to which the various governments have remained attentive. In a press release sent to AFP, the general delegate of the National Federation of French Cinemas, Marc-Olivier Sebbag, denounces a “totally unacceptable decision”, “terribly unfair” and asks Disney to reconsider
this choice. He calls on the public authorities to allow “a rapid resolution of this problem
major for (the) sector”. In other countries, films can generally be released on platforms a month and a half after their theatrical release.
The American entertainment giant also complains of an exclusivity window of only “five months” before seeing its film switch to free channels. For now, only Strange World is concerned, said Ms. Etzi to Les Echos. The release of “Buzz Lightyear”, Disney’s animated feature film and variation of the Toy Story saga, is scheduled for release on June 22. On the other hand, nothing has been decided at this stage for Black Panther or the new Avatar, two big productions on which cinemas are counting to improve the attendance figures at half mast. “We continue to assess the situation film by film and country by country”, commented the president France of Disney.