Film business insiders push to reopen Quebec cinemas in June
The main players in the Quebec film biz are pushing hard to reopen cinemas in the province by mid-june, and they believe it will happen.
But first the Quebec government and health authorities have to give them the green light, since movie theatres, like most other businesses, were shut down in mid-march.
The other huge question mark is whether Quebecers are ready to go back to seeing movies in theatres. That’s a particularly tricky question in Montreal, which remains the epicentre of the COVID-19 crisis in Canada.
Vincent Guzzo, president of independent Montreal-based chain Cinémas Guzzo, says he believes film fans are eager for a reopening.
“I think the silent majority is dying to go back to theatres,” he said.
Industry players are targeting Friday, June 19 for reopening, but that could be pushed back to July. Social distancing rules will have to be observed, so all customers who don’t live in the same household will have to be seated at least two metres apart.
One idea is that only every second row of seats would be used, and clearly no halls will be operating at full capacity.
The vast majority of cinemas across North America are still closed, though some theatres in Texas opened at the start of the month.
There are also plans to try to reopen movie theatres in mid-june or early July in the U.S. and many European countries. Cinemas in parts of Germany are set to begin operations on May 30.
Patrick Roy, president of Montreal-based Les Films Séville, Canada’s leading film distributor, said he also thinks people are ready to return to cinemas.
“People want to go out,” Roy said. He added that he has discussed the matter with Quebec Culture Minister Nathalie Roy. While she is supportive of the industry initiative, the final call will be made by the provincial health authorities.
Another issue is finding films to play in June. Hollywood has pushed back nearly all of its movie launches. If cinemas reopen June 19, they will likely be showing films that were on screens before the closures, and older Quebec films.
The big movie everyone in Hollywood is hoping will kick-start the return of cinema is Tenet, the Us$200-million sci-fi thriller from director Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight). It is one of the few Hollywood movies that hasn’t seen its release date pushed back because of COVID -19, and is still set to open July 17. Roy from Séville said there is talk of maybe even opening the film on every single screen in North America that day.