Return to the multiplex: Is the reopening coming too soon?
“American theaters are starting to come back to life,” said Tyler Aquilina in EW.com. More than 1,000 of the nation’s roughly 5,700 indoor movie venues were open last weekend, with hundreds more planning to unlock their doors over the next three weeks.
By the time Christopher Nolan’s thricedelayed thriller Tenet hits the big screen on Sept. 3, the biggest chains expect to be operating multiplexes in all 43 states that allow theaters to open. AMC, Regal, and Cinemark—which together control nearly half the 41,000 screens in America—have all established new health protocols, including reduced capacities in most locations and auditorium sanitization between screenings. But at the moment when the arrival of Unhinged gives U.S. theater operators their first moderately wide new release in months (see below), the country remains “nowhere close to containing the coronavirus.”
Please don’t buy a ticket yourself, said Adam Rosenberg in Mashable.com. Spending 90 minutes or more indoors with a large group of strangers is a “terrible idea,” a super-spreader event waiting to happen.
The movie chains are relying on half measures, requiring masks, for example, but allowing viewers to remove them while they munch on popcorn. Given the mixed messages that have come from the White House, you’ll also get plenty of people “ripping off their masks as soon as the trailers get started, in some kind of misguided political action.” What’s more, while AMC will limit occupancy to 30 percent, Regal will cap it at 50—and only where required by local mandate. In other words, “visiting a Regal theater means you may be dealing with a packed house.” If that’s what going to the movies looks like in 2020,
“your better bet is to just skip theaters entirely until this pandemic is more under control.”
The next few weeks will be telling, said Rebecca Rubin in Variety.com. No new American movie can be a blockbuster here at home while seating capacities are limited and no theaters are allowed to open in New York and California. Studios and exhibitors will be trusting word of mouth, and not just to nurture a long run for any one movie. In addition, “they’ll be relying on customers telling others that they felt safe seeing a movie in theaters.” For film buffs who aren’t convinced, said Emma Stefansky in Thrillist.com, Alamo Drafthouse might offer the only solution around. The 41-theater chain that serves drinks and dinner during every movie recently introduced a “Your Own Private Alamo” program at two locations, enabling any cinephile and up to 30 friends to rent the entire venue for $150.
The renting party has to spend another
$150 on food, and each guest must buy a ticket. “But still! That’s a pretty good price for the full Alamo experience and the ability to feel safe.”