The Case of the Amsterdam Cinema Scene
By Zeynep Akdoğan | Culture | February 28, 2025
Cover Illustration: Amsterdam, Pathe Tuschinski, 2021. Liam McGarry / Unsplash
Zeynep Akdoğan examines Amsterdam’s post-Covid cinema scene, highlighting its vibrant mix of chain and independent theaters.
The Amsterdam Cinema Landscape: Pathé and Cineville
Amsterdam hosts many independent and chain cinemas that its citizens frequently visit. With different subscription options and types of cinemas, it would be safe to assume Amsterdam has a lively cinema atmosphere. However, the decline in cinema attendance post-COVID raises a question: Is Amsterdam doing it right? And are movie theatres dead?
The internet suggests different numbers for how many cinemas there are in Amsterdam ranging from 55 to 125. However, even 55 is surely a high number for such a small city. These cinemas include several locations of the Pathé chain and many independent cinemas such as de Balie and Kriterion. Two widely used cinema subscriptions tie into these locations: Pathé and Cineville.
From personal experience with this subscription, I can say that the Pathé cinemas mostly offer new films. These new films include Arthouse films in a few locations, however, the focus is on more big-budget movies than arthouse ones overall. They also offer some classics and older movies usually tied to release date anniversaries and holiday seasons.
In 2024, during Halloween and with the release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) they did a marathon of Tim Burton-related movies including The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Big Fish (2003), and Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007).
As Pathé is a commercial chain cinema, they also offer other services such as cinema halls with relax-seats, 4D cinema with live effects, and IMAX. The Pathé subscription costs €23 and allows access to all Pathé locations. In addition, it offers a 10% discount on the drinks and snacks at the locations.
The Cineville subscription costs €19 a month for those under 30 years old and €24 for those over. With this subscription, 90% of the fee paid directly goes to independent cinemas. Cineville currently is available to use at 21 cinemas in Amsterdam, which is more than the locations Pathé has to offer. As an independent cinema subscription, it does not offer the commercial experiences of Pathé. One thing it does offer is more options for arthouse movies and classics over new and big-budget movies.
Cinema Culture in Amsterdam vs. Other Countries
A consideration should be made that these types of subscriptions are not available everywhere. Coming from Turkey myself, I can say we do not have any subscriptions for cinemas. In addition, these cinema subscriptions might not be as well known in the places they are offered as they are in Amsterdam. Curious about others’ experiences I interviewed two students, Iulian (master’s student in Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam) who used to have a Cineville subscription, and Sjoerd (a worker at Filmtheater Kriterion and a Graphic Design student in Utrecht).
In addition to the subscription, he offered some valuable views on what might be incentives and disincentives to going to the cinema or getting a subscription.
“The experience of it is quite a lot more fun here than back home because the cinemas are nicer. All the cinemas in the center of Amsterdam are in these pretty buildings and the insides are really nice. And it is very different from going in Romania to the mall.”
He mentioned that if he had to compare the cinema-going experience in Amsterdam to his home country Romania, a pro of Amsterdam would be that the cinemas in Amsterdam are nicer and more atmospheric. They are in smaller rooms with cozy seats and lighting. My experience at Pathé City led to a similar conclusion as well, the cinema rooms have larger red seats and tabletop lighting when you enter the room. When I compare this setting to Turkish cinemas, the first thing I notice is the LED lighting in Turkish cinemas which directly creates a less comfortable atmosphere.
In addition, Iulian mentioned that he thinks going to the cinema is the best way of watching a film because of the lack of distractions and the atmosphere. However, he also listed a few disincentives to not go to the cinema, including why he canceled his Cineville subscription. While he found it a nice investment, however, the cancellation process for Cineville was difficult. Iulian also explains how it is easy to forget you are subscribed to it; this contrasts with Pathé, where the monthly ‘factuur’s emails remind you of your subscription, in addition to the actual automatic payment.
A big disincentive for Cineville, in his opinion, is the pricing. He mentioned that it is cheaper to go to the cinema in Romania, however, there, the issue of accessibility arises since the cinemas are in malls outside of the city, at least in Bucharest. Another disincentive for him was the lack of options for movies. He said that “a cinema that only does new releases is cool and everything but at the same time it is very easy to run out of things to watch”. Therefore, he said something that could encourage him to get another subscription would be to have more options for older movies. Not necessarily classics or popular movies but just varied movies from a decade ago, for example, would be a good idea.
This situation ties into something Sjoerd told me in his interview. He mentioned that at Kriterion two people do regular programming (new releases) and two people do special programming. Special programming takes care of special events and showings of older or themed movies at the cinema. This is a way of making sure the cinema runs both sides of the spectrum. However, there are also difficulties in the process. Sjoerd mentioned to me that the people who work at Kriterion go to film festivals that are covered by the cinema itself to see the movies and review whether they are good to be shown to the audience of Kriterion. He also mentioned that it is a surprising business to program the cinema because some movies that would never work at other cinemas work for their audience.
The Future of Cinema in Amsterdam
Therefore, the incentive of special programming of movies that are not new releases might be a positive side of most Amsterdam cinemas as both the independent and the commercial cinemas show them and they are appreciated. However, it does seem like it is a tricky job to make sure the audience of a specific cinema (especially in the case of independent ones) would enjoy a specific film.
One thing I did gather from both my cinema-going time and from my interviews with Iulian and Sjoerd was that cinemas are still appreciated, at least in Amsterdam. Moreover, Amsterdam does its best to offer them to film enjoyers. Sjoerd specifically mentioned some ways Amsterdam cinemas have ways of encouraging filmmaking and moviegoing such as some 35mm films that Eye Museum offers to borrow for movie theaters. In addition, he also said from the perspective of a film theater worker that compared to many cities and country capitals he has explored such as Brussels and Berlin, Amsterdam has way more to offer in its cinema-going scene.
I think it is safe to say there are several incentives to go to the cinema in Amsterdam such as subscriptions, atmospheric cinemas, and offers of non-new-release films. However, cheaper ticket prices and greater offerings would increase interest. Fortunately, at least in Amsterdam with its various scenes of cultural activities, movie-going seems not to be dead yet.
Zeynep Akdoğan is a university student in Amsterdam. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Amsterdammer.
