The makers of the most expensive Dutch film in years, The Battle of the Scheldt, let the film premiere before Christmas. A remarkable choice, because due to the corona measures a maximum of thirty visitors are allowed in a cinema room. The investment of more than 14 million euros in the Dutch-language film cannot be recouped with those visitor numbers.
The epic is about three young people in World War II, during the battle for the area of the Scheldt estuary in 1944. The paths of an English pilot, a Zeeland girl in the resistance and a Dutch boy fighting for the Nazis intersect. that battle, which killed 10,000 people.
James Bond
The release of the film was delayed twice. The first time because of the corona pandemic and then because of the new James Bond film No Time to Die came out, which would also be released around Christmas. The makers of The Battle of the Scheldt decided that the competition was too fierce, and postponed the premiere until the spring of 2021. After the makers of the Bond film announced that the film would be released in April 2021, the idea arose to The Battle of the Scheldt still let it run in cinemas at Christmas, because, unlike in other years, there are no major international productions this Christmas.
“The Christmas blockbusters are gone, all the cinemas are empty,” says producer Alain de Levita on the NOS Radio1-Journaal. “The Bond film has a worldwide market, the makers look at what is happening in the world. We only deal with the Dutch market. That gave us the opportunity to be released in December.”
Joint approach
Last Friday, De Levita sat around the table with the distributor September Film, the client National Fund for Peace, Freedom and Veteran Care, the Film Fund and the cinema chains Vue, Pathé and Kinepolis. They decided on a joint approach to make the movie a success. Money is not the most important motive in this, according to the producer. “Even with full theaters it is not possible to recoup the 14 million euros, the Netherlands is a small market. The idea is not to make money from it, but to make an epic film that learns what the war was like.”
The film can be seen in about 200 cinemas from 17 December. The makers hope for a million visitors, but expect that, given the current limited visitor capacity, that will be a challenge. In addition, the question is whether the cinemas will be open during the holidays, now that the cabinet is considering stricter measures such as a lockdown and a curfew. If there is a lockdown, the premiere will be postponed again.