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12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 JULY 2020 NEWS Big screen can still resist rise of home movie streaming but Eden Cinema fights blockbuster drought with classic film screenings Beer resilient over COVID lockdown but future is frothy JAM ES DEBONO EVEN as the COVID-19 lockdown fades from collective memory, the cancellation of large-scale outdoor concerts and fes- tivals like Farsons' own beer festival will take its toll on the Maltese beer market. The downscaling of village feasts and the cancellation of the 2020 European nations football tournament, one of the summer's greatest pull factors for bars and beer, is also expected to have an impact on sales. "Beer is a very social beverage, often con- sumed in crowded spaces, both indoors and outdoors, with consumption peaking during hot summer weeks, by locals and tourists alike," Farsons head of sales and marketing Susan Weenink Camilleri said. "It is therefore not difficult to realise that the measures introduced during the pan- demic impacted heavily on such opportu- nities and therefore on sales." Weenink Camilleri says the Maltese public remained loyal to their local beer brands during the lockdown, even though the increase in online and retail sales did not match the impact of outdoor restric- tions and a tourism slump that turned beer into one of COVID-19's greatest casualties. "During the peak of the pandemic, and while the full set of measures were in force, with families staying indoors most of the time, we did see a modest increase in retail sales, mainly coming from on- line sales, however this did not in any way compensate for the drops registered from the closure of bars and restaurants during the same period." And while Maltese brands remained con- sumer favourites, it remains premature to quantify the final extent of the COVID pandemic on sales, despite being mitigat- ed to some extent by government support measures. Now that Malta is emerging from the lockdown with the lifting of measures on hotels, bars and restaurants, the onset of summer signals the first signs of a pick-up in business. "The Maltese are showing signs of want- ing to return to a semblance of 'normal- ity'… however we are far from where we started and where we need to be," Ween- ink Camilleri said. But while weekends are seeing some ac- tivity especially in entertainment areas, the weekdays have been particularly chal- lenging in the absence of any custom from tourism. Farsons see the opening of Malta International Airport as a next milestone for the pick-up in beer sales, but it is still too early to understand the extent of the return of tourists to Malta. "Only then can we really understand the full effect of any improvement or other- wise from the lifting of measures," Ween- ink Camilleri said. "We need to remain vigilant not only with respect to the virus along with its immediate implications on business in general, but also in the longer term as the impact of COVID-19 has been so signifi- cant on most businesses and will certain- ly result in lasting changes in how many businesses are structured and operate." LAURA CALLEJA MOVIEGOERS should rest easy. The rise in streaming ser- vices will not kill the cinema yet, says Kate De Cesare, op- erations director at the Eden Leisure Group, operator of Malta's largest cinema. The lockdown has corre- sponded with a global increase in streaming subscriptions such as Netflix, but De Cesare says the filmic experience of cinema is still offering clients a different kind of outing that can't be had inside people's liv- ing rooms. "Online streaming has been gaining momentum steadily over the years, and yet 2019 was one of our strongest years at Eden Cinemas. Stream- ing won't kill cinema because they're two different film ex- periences: they can live and thrive side by side," De Cesare said. Foreign productions in 2019 brought in 734,626 admissions across the island with a total gross box office of €5 million over 28,534 screenings. 409 films were screened, an aver- age of 71 screenings per film. But cinemas, like many oth- er businesses, were hit hard by COVID-19. On 16 March they joined the list of enter- tainment companies that were temporarily shut down in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. There are currently six cinemas operating in Malta and Gozo. Last week the Eden Leisure Group, along with other cin- emas on the island, opened their doors for the first time in almost three months. Howev- er, it's a considerably different experience than many mov- iegoers are used to – across the island cinemas have slashed their prices for adults at a dis- counted price of €5 from its usual average of €8. There is also a smaller pool of films to watch due to the fact that many film studios have pushed back blockbuster summer releases to later in the year, fearing they would tank at the box office due to COV- ID-19 social distancing and lockdown measures. In fact, Marvel's highly antic- ipated 'Black Widow', starring Scarlett Johansson, was meant to be released on 11 May, and is now postponed to Novem- ber 2020. Another anticipated COVID streaming kill cinema