Malco delays plans to revive Memphis theaters
Less than three weeks after reopening several multiplexes, Malco — the Memphis-based movie exhibition company with cinemas in six states — is reclosing the Olive Branch Cinema Grill, restricting operations at the Desoto Cinema Grill to weekends, and delaying its plans to revive its Memphis-area theaters.
The revised operating plans come as COVID-19 cases continue to spike in Shelby County and much of the U.S., in the wake of phased “return to normalcy” strategies that failed to contain the virus, as customers defied social-distancing guidelines, mask-wearing recommendations and other measures intended to curb the spread of the disease.
Starting Friday, the Desoto theater will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only, for the near future. Already, movies are being screened only three times a day, instead of the usual five.
Meanwhile, the Olive Branch cinema will close back down after its Thursday shows.
Malco had hoped to reopen the Stage Cinema in Bartlett and its Collierville Towne Cinema Grill this Friday, but now has put those plans on hold.
However, the Summer Quartet Drivein — which reopened to sellout crowds, and has continued to be popular, hosting a sold-out screening of a Garth Brooks concert on June 27 — will continue to operate seven days a week.
David Tashie, Malco president and chief operating officers, said the apparent retreat is due to a lack of movies, not to a lack of moviegoers (although attendance at indoor theaters has been relatively light).
Movies expected to open in theaters this summer continue to have their announced release dates pushed back, giving movie theaters and moviegoers little incentive to revive the movie habit. Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” recently was pushed from July 31 to Aug. 12, Disney’s live-action “Mulan” has been moved from July 24 to Aug. 21, and even “Unhinged,” a thriller with Russell Crowe, has been delayed from this Friday to July 31.
“We can’t keep showing the same movies and old movies,” he said, pointing out that the Desoto and Olive Branch had filled its screens with such revivals as “Jaws” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” in addition to such more recent fare as “The Invisible Man” remake and “Trolls World Tour.”
“Everything is in flux,” Tashie said. “Every day we’re making new decisions based on new information.”
Tashie said opening a movie theater in the era of the coronavirus is “extremely complicated,” due to the “deep cleaning,” social-distancing strategies and other measures necessary to conform to Health Department mandates and to reassure moviegoers.