There is no beach, but there is a cinema. Madrid is preparing to welcome the season that empties its streets on the hottest days of the year. The capital, always at the cutting edge of the cultural catalogue, mutates into a kind of oasis in which films become true protagonists. Cinema Cibelesone of the summer film palaces, returns with its ninth edition for 11 weeks and with the screening of more than 75 films that combine the classics with some of the juiciest premieres on the billboard.
Of the June 27 to September 12, the CentroCentro Crystal Gallery, in the Cibeles Palace, will become a space dedicated to cinema. This edition starts with a tribute to The law of silence (1954), the drama directed by Elia Kazan 70 years ago, and winner of eight Oscars, including ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Direction’. The film starring Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint opens the season for a catalog full of classic titles: At the end of the getaway, cinema Paradiso, Apocalypse Now, Charade, Reservoir Dogs, It happened one night, The diligence either The third man. There is no shortage of icons like The engaged princessthe new version of Wonka either The Goonies.
“Expectations are high because we know that the film box office has not been particularly good in this first part of 2024,” he indicated. Jesus Mateos de la Vargaorganizer of Cibeles de Cine, to Infobae Spain. The person in charge of the summer event believes that the ninth edition can bring the titles released in recent months to the audience “in a summer cinema format.” De la Varga is confident that, in this new edition, “the people who have been left without seeing many of the good films that have been in theaters in these first six months” support the attendance figures.
“Expectations are high because we know that the film box office has not been particularly good in this first part of 2024” | Jesús Mateos de la Varga, organizer of ‘Cibeles de Cine’
Spanish movie theaters are not going through their best year. The week of May 31 to June 2 set off alarm bells: attendance fell to a new annual low with 364,335 spectators and 2,678,017 million euros raised, according to data provided by Comscore Movies Spain. The figures did not rise with the Film Festival, held from June 3 to 6. The XXII edition recorded a total of 832,128 spectators, which represented a drop of 15 percent compared to the May 2023 edition. The data was even worse during the week of June 14 to 16, with a collection of just 2.3 million euros, the worst weekend to date.
Neither Furiosa: From the Mad Max Saganeither Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and neither Imaginary Friends They have managed to bring the Spanish audience to the cinema. We will have to wait to see how the public reacts to Inside Out 2one of the most anticipated releases of the year that has achieved a record collection in its first weekend.
The billboard of the new edition not only includes historical feature films that are celebrating their anniversary. The catalog merges with the most notable box office of the last year. The 2024 releases include films such as The specialist, Back to Black, Fly me to the Moon, Civil War, Furiosa: from the Mad Max saga, Priscilla, blood on the lips, The chimeraBikeriders, The Iron Clan, We will always have tomorrow, evil does not exist, Little girl, Second prize either Inside out 2. “We select high-quality films that have performed very well at festivals and awards galas,” he says about the task of narrowing down the catalog.
Cibeles de Cine also wanted to bet on the titles that have dominated the conversation of the awards season. It couldn’t be missing from your billboard Anatomy of a fall, the film by Justine Triet (winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Festival) that marked 2023 and won the Oscar in the ‘Best Original Screenplay’ category. Will also be Past LivesCeline Song’s debut film, Robot DreamsPablo Berger’s film that was nominated for an Oscar, and The area of interestby Jonathan Glazer.
Last year, Cibeles de Cine “broke the spectator record” with 33,000 attendeesa figure that “was achieved, to a large extent, thanks to great box office successes” such as Barbie, Oppenheimer, Top Gun: Maverick either Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Although Jesús Mateos de la Varga is aware that the previous titles do not have a similar replacement for the summer of 2024, he trusts that “lovers of the seventh art” will want to bet on the feature films that have been relegated on their wish list on Letterboxd.
