Going to the Movies in Marrakech

"If the new Megarama in Marrakech insists on exclusive firstrun films, I'll be run out of business," - Mohamed Layadi, owner of Marrakech's Colisee Cinema.

Megarama opens to the public.
Megarama" is no longer associated with Casablanca alone, because now some 240 km south of the country's economic capital, Marrakech moviegoers can now have a feast of cinema.

The huge movie theater complex, with nine cinemas was inaugurated Friday in Marrakech where an international film festival attracted, for the sixth year in a row, hundreds of Moroccan and world cinema celebrities.

The project has taken eight months of construction, and no less than USD 9Mn. It is situated at the new tourist zone of Aguedal, and covers an area of 3,382 sqm.

As the government says" With a diversified programming, the new pearl is aiming to become a privileged space for the seventh art fans of what is known as the ochre city."

Nabil Benabdallah, Communication Minister and Spokesman for the Govt. who chaired the inauguration said this project would help break the tide of movie theater closures that marked the field in the recent years.

Marrakech Megarama will go in the opposite direction of this negative tendency, he said.

The New Megarama - not everyone is happy

The DVD boom, satellite TV and piracy has caused total cinema admissions in Morocco to tumble 56% from 10.8 million in 2002 to 4.8 million in 2005.

One solution to the plummet may be increasing the numbers of theaters, but new multiplexes will probably force the closure of older cinemas. "If the new Megarama in Marrakech insists on exclusive firstrun films, I'll be run out of business," says Mohamed Layadi, owner of Marrakech's Colisee.

Moroccan production levels are far healthier, especially compared to other Arab states. No features are made in Jordan and Saudi Arabia just premiered its first feature-length film, "How Are Things," in October. Tunisia made five films in 2005, while Algeria saw a creditable eight releases.

Once the Arab cinema powerhouse, Egypt's production languished at 24 films in 2004. With Morocco, Lebanon is perhaps producing the most buzz: two features have been produced this year and a five are in production or post -- a recent record.

MOROCCO STATS*

* Number of films produced: 10 (2004), 12 (2005), 16 (2006, produced or in post)

* Total box office: $15.6 million (2002), $14.7 million (2003), $11.5 million, (2004), $8.4 million (2005)

* Total admissions: 10.8 million (2002), 9.5 million (2003), 6.8 million (2004), 4.8 million (2005)

* Market share by admission (through July 7): U.S., 32%; India, 30%, Morocco, 20%; Egypt, 5%; France, 3%.

* Cinema screens (2005): 141

* Moroccan box office top 10, 2006

(Through Oct.19, title, B.O)

1. "Marock," $437,642

2. "La Symphonie Marocaine," $225,167

3. "Les ailes brisees," $147,035

4. "Heaven's Doors," $52,666

5. "Elle est diabetique et hypertendue et elle refuse toujours de crever," $33,286

6. "Tilila," $9,199

7. "Bouksasse Boutfounaste, $6,236

8. "Ici et la," $6,153

9. "Tenja," $5,702

10. "Les amours de Madj Mokhtar Soldi," $4,005

*Source: Centre Cinematographique Marocain (CCM), Egyptian Film Center, Jordanian Royal Film Commission, Lebanese Cinema Foundation, Tunisian Ministry of Culture

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news