A Première is always an occasion for glamour. Red carpet, flashing lights, celebrities wearing best fashion. Behind that, a première plays a even more important role: it marks the date of release of your movie. A date essential to confirm that public subsidies were properly received or to make the movie elegible for receiving them in the future. It also may be associated to key milestones regarding output agreements, financing schemes and other important part of the film industry infrastructure. This was routine in the old good days. Not so under the pandemic. With a few brave exceptions, a large number of cinemas are still close across Spain. Attendance is strictly limited, in some cases to a point in which opening the theaters may be not profitable from a financial viewpoint. So, releasing new movies is becoming more challenging than ever. 

Having this in mind, the Spanish Ministry for Cultural Affairs and Sports has issued on 31st August 2020 a new Order (CUD/807/2020) extending until the 1st January 2021 the special permission it already gave earlier this year for considering the release of a movie through an online platform or a public purchase catalogue to be equated with a theatrical release. True, that "virtual" première does lack the glamour of traditional ones, but the industry may well trade this in for the obvious financial and non-financial advantages of getting the movies officially released. If the public is not fully back by January 2021, a virtual red carpet may well be needed.