After a year’s delay, the first multiplex in the Moroccan port city of El Jadida is scheduled to open this July. Managed by CINEATLAS, it will contain three cinemas with a total of 338 seats. The building also houses a library, a garden and an auditorium.
The project was initiated by Pierre-François Bernet, a French producer and head of the CINEATLAS group, Butterfly Productions and Chrysalis. The opening of this new complex was postponed for a year because of delivery difficulties and a rise in the price of raw materials. As Bernet explains, “Before, if you wanted projectors you had to wait three months. Since Covid-19 you have to wait at least six.”
Ever since his company opened the first multiplex in Rabat, Bernet has wanted to continue investing in building and renovating Moroccan cinemas. Another complex is in preparation in Tangier. The company presents itself as “the best offer in Morocco for digital projection technology.”
It is important to emphasize that the cinema sector in Morocco has been in free fall for several years. In 1990 there were 225 cinemas in the country, in 2019 there were just 30. This is why Morocco’s Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mehdi Bensaïd, wants to create 150 cinemas by the end of 2022. The Centre Cinématographique Marocain offers financial support to help future investors. As well as CINEATLAS, the French company Pathé-Gaumont is currently building two cinemas in Casablanca and Rabat.
Sources : Le 360, Finance News, CINEATLAS, Medias 24
