The documentary on the ascent of Everest by Inoxtag is being shown on September 13 in many cinemas across France, Belgium, and Switzerland. Tickets have been snapped up, forcing cinemas to open new screenings.
Climbing Everest in one year when he knows nothing about mountaineering. This is the challenge that YouTuber Inoxtag set himself in February 2023. Since then, the videographer followed by 8 million subscribers flew to Nepal last spring.
While no one knows whether Inoxtag managed to reach the summit of Everest, 8,800 meters high, he is releasing a documentary on his ascent this Friday, September 13. Called Kaizen: a year to carve Everestthe feature film is scheduled for a single screening in around a hundred theaters in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
New sessions added
The preview was such a success that the main ticketing platforms have experienced technical problems when the sale launches on September 3.
While the UGC and Pathé sites had difficulty responding to the enthusiasm of the fans, smaller cinemas were not spared. The site of the Megarama in Dieppe (Seine-Maritime) remained inaccessible for several minutes.
“The young people were on the ball,” observes Stéphanie Heudebourg, director of the city’s Mégarama, to Tech&Co. “Before it went on sale, the cinema’s phone kept ringing to find out if we were going to show the documentary.”
In Vienne (Isère), the ticket office site for the Amphi cinema also experienced technical difficulties. “We had never seen anything like it. All the tickets at the ticket office were gone in 20 minutes,” explains Nathalie Bouquet, the cinema manager to Tech&Co. Unfortunately, the ticket office servers did not hold up.
“We had to start the whole sale again. I was a little worried that the transactions had been finalized and that I would end up with more tickets sold than seats,” she says.
Faced with the craze, cinemas have been forced to adapt. In Vienna, Nathalide Bouquet has opened a second room to screen the documentary. In total, more than 600 people are expected to attend the preview at the Amphi.
“It’s a big surprise,” admits the manager. “We set aside about thirty places to avoid any last-minute problems and to allow groups not to be separated in two different rooms.”
The Dieppe cinema was also forced to open a second room to screen the documentary. According to Stéphanie de Heudebourg, the majority of spectators are “under 25”, or even “under 16”.
Reinforcement staff
“It’s quite remarkable,” says Laurent Gaudin, director of Cinéville in Laval (Mayenne), interviewed by Tech&Co. “The ticket office was stormed. We had to create digital queues and open a second screening.”
He estimates that the cinema should welcome more than 1,000 people spread over the two screenings. “That changed our plans a little,” jokes the manager. “We called in a few employees to help out. But what is certain is that this documentary will come to stimulate a Friday evening after the start of the school year that was looking very quiet.”
In total, some 200,000 places have found buyers in around a hundred cinemas in France and abroad. But all is not lost for fans who have not managed to get a ticket. New cinema tickets are sometimes put back on sale.
The documentary Kaizen: a year to carve Everest will also be available on YouTube on Saturday, September 14 at 2:30 p.m. This free version will, however, be ten minutes shorter.
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