Malco ready to reopen all movie theaters
Company hopes fans are set for return to big screen
The world needs a coronavirus vaccine, but it doesn’t have one.
And until it does, a lot of related needs will emerge, from the urgent to the wishful.
“We need a crystal ball,” said David Tashie, president and chief operating officer of Malco Theatres Inc., “but we don’t have one.”
Banking on business calculations rather than magical guarantees, Malco is gambling that frustrated movie fans are eager to return to theaters.
Malco lost millions of dollars in box office revenue this summer in the wake of the pandemic shutdown. At the same time, the Memphis-based movie exhibition company spent millions of dollars, renovating and revamping some its signature theaters in hopes of luring patrons back to cinemas for what Tashie describes as “a safe, comfortable and totally different experience.”
Friday, Malco launches a three-week reopening campaign that begins with the introduction of a new Collierville “MXT” auditorium that contains a 75foot-wide screen that is the largest in the Malco chain – larger even than the IMAX screen at the Paradiso.
The campaign culminates Sept. 3 with the theatrical release of the muchdelayed and highly anticipated “Tenet,” the new movie from director Christopher Nolan, whose monumental action spectacles – “The Dark Knight Returns,” “Inception,” “Dunkirk” – are crafted to be seen on the largest screens with the densest sound systems possible.
By that date, almost all Memphisarea Malco theaters are scheduled to be open to the public, with ticket sales limited to half-capacity, to abet the social distancing guidelines that are intended to inhibit the spread of the virus. (Customers will be required to wear masks when they enter theaters, but they may remove them when inside, to eat popcorn and snacks and so on.)
The three-week reopening strategy is tied to the arrivals of the first new major theatrical releases in the five months since coronavirus concerns caused cinema shut-downs across the country. (Malco closed its 37-theater, six-state circuit of cinemas March 18.)
Friday’s new movie is “Unhinged,” a thriller with Russell Crowe as a man with a bad case of road rage. The next Friday, Aug. 28, brings Marvel’s “The New Mutants,” the latest “X-men” spinoff, which is expected to be popular enough to justify the reopening of the Desoto, the Ridgeway, the Studio on the Square and the Downtown Powerhouse. “Tenet” follows a week later. By that time, all theaters should be open, with the possible exceptions of the Bartlett (devoted to second-run movies) and the Majestic, which might not return until mid-september.
The availability of new movies people want to see is crucial, Tashie said. On June 15, Malco reopened its Desoto and Olive Branch multiplexes, but the experiment proved short-lived, with rereleases of such familiar films as “Jaws” failing to attract enough paying customers to justify operating expenses.
“When we shut down in March, it was like hitting a brick wall,” Tashie said. But now, “We’re confident that people will come back.
“We’re hoping there’s pent-up demand. We want them to experience a movie on a 50- or 60- or 70-foot-wide screen, instead of on a 50-inch screen. We want them to remember how awesome it is.”
Even before the coronavirus made small crowds fashionable, Malco had planned to reduce capacity at the Paradiso in East Memphis, the Studio on the Square in Midtown and most other locations by replacing the existing seats with larger, cushier recliners with adjustable footrests, arrayed in rows with greater legroom.
With daily business operations no longer impeding construction requirements, Malco was able to fast-forward its plans during the shutdown. For example, work is almost finished on what Tashie called a $3 million “complete overhaul” of the Paradiso’s 16 auditoriums. This redesign will eliminate almost 1,200 seats from the theater’s previous capacity of close to 2,500; the theory is that increasing the spaciousness and comfort of the seats will attract more customers on a regular basis than will be lost by reducing potential ticket sales on blockbuster weekends.
Also, ticketing in most theaters is now on a reserved-seating basis, a strategy that abets social distancing. A family or group can buy as many tickets as it wants, but the computer system otherwise won’t sell adjacent seats.
The vaunted jewel in Malco’s post-coronavirus crown is the new MXT – Malco Extreme Theatre – auditorium at the Collierville Towne Cinema Grill. Built as an addition to the already 16screen multiplex building, the MXT auditorium features laser projection, a 56channel Dolby ATMOS sound system and 240 “luxury recliner” seats. Tashie said this auditorium itself cost about $3 million – or as much as the revamp of the entire Paradiso. (Launched at the Powerhouse, “MXT” is the company’s addition to the “PLF” – Premium Large Format – stakes pioneered by IMAX.)
However well planned, Malco’s reopening gamble ultimately will depend to a large extent on factors the company can’t control. Will the virus be contained, or will the government have to step back in and order another shutdown? Will the studios be encouraged by the performances of “Unhinged,”
“The New Mutants” and “Tenet,” or will they redirect more major movies to their streaming services, as Disney has done with its filmed version of “Hamilton” and its live-action “Mulan” remake? Will customers feel comfortable enough to return?
Acknowledge Tashie: “We’re going to have to be as fluid as possible, because there’s nothing normal about this situation.”
The customer safety/comfort question is key. Nationally, theater safety guidelines vary widely (New York theaters remain closed), and health experts disagree on the risks of moviegoing. “As an epidemiologist, I would prefer a drive-in,” Dr. Anne W. Rimoin, a professor of epidemiology at UCLA, told Entertainment Weekly. (In fact, Malco’s Summer Quartet Drive-in reopened May 15.)
Even so, “the movie industry has always come back every time it’s been challenged,” said Donald Terry, Malco vice president and operations administrator. “Whether it’s by TV or Blockbuster or streaming.”