Caldas accepts end of cinemas in the mall if there is elsewhere

O president of the House of Caldas da Rainha, Vítor Marques, confirmed to the agency Lusa that, after the closure, in January, of the rooms managed by Cineplace, and exhausted the contacts by the business center administration to reach agreement with other operators, the four cinemas will give way to a gym and a store.

“La Vie asked to appear to the guardianship that, in turn, asked the city council, which authorized [the disaffection of the rooms to the cinema activity] as long as another space for the cinema in the city was found,” the mayor explained.

Asked by the agency Lusa, the administration of the commercial center clarified in writing that the “legal and administrative process under way [is] under the legislation in force (...), after direct involvement of the General Inspection of Cultural Activities and the highest bodies of the Ministry of Culture in its elaboration, including public interventions on the management of this complex dossier with impact at national level”.

According to the mall, the process is also “duely framed with local authorities whose involvement and role cannot be disregarded, both in the strictly legal plan and in the defense of the interests of the citizens of the Caldas da Rainha”.

The mayor of Caldas da Rainha said that the municipality has mediated contacts to reopen the rooms of the old Delta Cinemas in the historic center of this city of Leiria district.

“ The talks are going well to bring about openness,” he added.

Last week, at a parliamentary hearing, the Minister for Culture, Youth and Sport, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, said that she was awaiting the reports of the Inspector General for Cultural Activities (IGAC) on requests for disaffected cinema activity, which have been pending since 2023.

“ By November, I will need to make a decision, which will seek to consider the technical report that is delivered to me by IGAC ", said.

The decisions of the guardianship will be made in the light of a new ordinance, which entered into force in June, which changes the regime of disaffection of cinematographic activity of the cinemas.

In order to make a decision, the Government will need opinions, albeit non-binding, from more entities, including the Portuguese Cinema Library, the Directorate-General for Arts, municipalities and the Cinema and Audiovisual Institute.

The change in the disaffection regime takes place after, in 2025 and earlier this year, the closure of several cinemas of the commercial circuit, especially the exhibition company Cineplace, which went into insolvency, and also some rooms of NOS Lusomundo Cinemas.

Following these closures, the Ministry of Culture suspended decisions on requests for disaffection and set up a working group in November 2025, which presented on 6 April several recommendations to revitalize the sector, including changes to the disaffection scheme.

At the time, the working group revealed that 12 requests for disaffection from a total of 52 cinemas are pending or under instruction, in locations such as Albufeira, Barreiro, Vila Nova de Gaia, Seixal, Braga, Loures, Guarda and Caldas da Rainha.

In Caldas da Rainha, the cinemas operated by Cineplace closed in January this year, leaving the city without any commercial cinema.

The film programming offer is reduced to the screening of films at the Cultural Center and Congresses (CCC) which, according to the president, “will keep the film sessions, in non-competitive format, showing films that are not part of the commercial circuit”.