No fewer than 45 films are slated for release when French cinemas reopen on May 19th after six months of pandemic-induced closure, reports Radio France Internationale.
At two to three times the usual number of films to be released, it is causing complications for movie theatres across France.
Stéphane Goudet, who owns a cinema on the outskirts of Paris, is trying to figure out how to give as many films as possible their shot at succeeding. "It's like a giant Tetris!" he told French news agency AFP.
The authorities have encouraged cinemas to play multiple films in each screening room when cinemas reopen on May 19th, so Goudet crams in 18 movies across his six screens for the opening week.
Some had just been released and were scoring well when the second lockdown in October stopped them in their tracks.
Among them were French film DNA, by award-winning director Maiwenn. Also doing well when the curtains fell was Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round, starring Mads Mikkelsen, which picked up this year's foreign film Oscar.
Audiences at France's 2,000-plus cinemas enjoy both international hits and the products of its own prolific film industry.
There are the Oscar winners to catch up with, including best picture winner Nomadland and local success The Father from French writer-director Florian Zeller, for which Anthony Hopkins won his second best actor award. It also picked up best adapted screenplay.
Long-delayed Hollywood blockbusters will also soon start taking up space, including superhero slugfests Black Widow and The Suicide Squad, from the Marvel and DC stables respectively.