To watch or not to watch?
Film-biz insiders pushing 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 its health authorities have to give the green light to allow the cinemas to begin screening films again for the first time since much of the province, including its movie theatres, were shut down in mid-march. The other huge question mark is whether people here are ready to go back to see movies in theatres given the health risks during the novel Coronavirus pandemic. That’s a particularly tricky question in Montreal, which remains the epicentre of the COVID19 outbreak in Canada. On Thursday, François Legault’s government delayed the reopening of Montreal schools, daycares and businesses until May 25.
Vincent Guzzo, president of independent Montrealbased chain Guzzo Cinemas, believes folks here are absolutely ready to return to the cinema.
“I think the silent majority is dying to go back to theatres,” said Guzzo. “In fact, they’ll probably appreciate it more because they haven’t had it for so long.”
The date that the industry players are targeting for reopening cinemas is Friday, June 19 but it could happen in July. Theatre owners are well aware that rules regarding social distancing will have to be followed in cinemas and that means all customers who don’t live in the same household will have to be seated at least two meters apart.
One idea is that only every second row of seats will be used in order to ensure that people are far enough apart 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 did open this past weekend.
In the U.S. and in many European countries, there are also plans to try to reopen movie theatres in mid-june or early July. 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 thinks people are ready to return to cinemas.
“People want to go out,” said Roy. “The first time it’ll feel weird for sure. It’s like in the first week of confinement, I was very nervous when I went to the grocery store. Now I’m getting used to it, though I still find it a bit strange. But I’m less nervous and it’s going to be the same thing with going to the cinema. At first it will feel strange then we’ll get used to it and realize it’s fun. You’re getting out of the house and that’s what people want to do.”
Roy has discussed the matter with Quebec Culture Minister Nathalie Roy and he said she is supportive of the industry initiative but that the final call will be made by the provincial health authorities.
Another issue is finding films to play in theatres in June. Hollywood has pushed back nearly all of its film launches and most in the business here believe that if cinemas reopen June 19, they will be playing films that were onscreen before the closures and other older Quebec films. The big movie everyone in Hollywood is hoping will really kick-start the return of cinema is Tenet, the $Us200-million sci-fi thriller from director Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark
Knight).
It is one of the few Hollywood movies that hasn’t had its release date pushed back because of COVID 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 on that day.