Movie theatres prepare to fire up the projectors, offer special showings

If you’re eager to enjoy a movie on the big screen, there isn’t much longer to wait, but don’t expect the experience to be as simple as showing up and buying a ticket.

The Saskatchewan government announced on Tuesday that theatres will be able to reopen as soon as today. However, according to spokespeople for Cineplex, Landmark and Magic Lantern, no theatres in Saskatoon will open before Friday, July 3.

Sarah Van Lang, executive director of communications for Cineplex, said the company has been planning for the reopening since the day the doors closed.

“We’ve had three-and-a-half months to put plans and protocols in place,” she said. “We obviously are now recalling our staff, and our priority right now is getting them trained on the new safety protocols that we’ve put in place.”

That includes cleaning seats after every show, enhanced cleaning in restrooms and on all high-contact surfaces, physical distancing with signage to guide guests through the building and seating limited by 60 to 80 per cent.

Due to the limited seating, Van Lang said all shows at Cineplex will now require guests to reserve a seat when purchasing a ticket.

Seats will be available in pairs, but Cineplex theatres will be able to accommodate groups of three if the need arises, she said.

Landmark Cinemas will also implement a limited seating capacity, enhanced cleaning and social-distancing policies, according to a statement released Thursday.

Van Lang said she expects it to be busy once Cineplex reopens on July 3.

Landmark is also planning to reopen that day.

Tom Hutchinson, president of Magic Lantern Theatres, said he expects The Roxy’s reopening will be a slower process in terms of drawing crowds.

“The government can close the theatres, but the government can’t reopen them. Theatres are open when there is something to attract an audience, but there is nothing to attract an audience right now,” he said, noting that the season’s major movies have been pushed back to the end of the summer or have already been made available to stream online.

Cineplex and Landmark plan to remedy the lack of new content by screening old favourites for $5 or less per ticket.

Hutchinson said from what he has heard, most people still aren’t comfortable with the idea of “a mass gathering in a dark room with people they don’t know,” regardless of the price.

Even if guests were comfortable, screening old movies daily wouldn’t work for The Roxy, which acts more as a community event venue, because the daily operating costs would exceed the revenue, he said.

Instead, The Roxy will be open only for select dates at 30-per-cent capacity.

The first date will be July 11, when the theatre will host an all-ages matinee and a 19- and-older evening screening of Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back.

Roxy general manager Jordan Delorme “has a lot of autonomy, but here again he has to craft something that’s going to interest an audience,” Hutchinson said.

“We have no interest in simply opening the doors and then locking them again after no one has come in.”