Attracting moviegoers a struggle for theatres
Safety measures, reduced capacity in place
In June, movie theatres were given the go-ahead to begin reopening as part of Phase 3 of the COVID-19 plan led by the Provincial Health Authority.
After stringent health-and-safety protocols outlined by the B.C. government, theatres large and small put plans in place to ensure that, once things got rolling, moviegoers could return safely to their seats in order to enjoy their favourite films.
“We were closed for upwards of four months — and we used that time to really look at how we operate our theatres, how our staff interact with each other and how our staff interact with our guests,” Sarah Van Lange, executive director of communications at Cineplex, says. “The experience you have when you're actually in your seat enjoying the film is exactly as it was pre-COVID, but it's how you get to your seat that is different.”
Those differences in effect in the company's 165 theatres across Canada include “enhanced cleaning” occurring between each showtime, Plexiglas barriers at ticket booths and concession stands, cashless transactions, mandatory mask-wearing by all staff members, and a reserved, socially distant seating arrangement in each theatre that sees every other row typically blocked off, Van Lange explains.
“This is our way of ensuring that you have three feet on either side of you that's vacant, and then in front of you and behind you there are no guests there at all,” Van Lange says of the safety measures, which reduce theatre capacity by 60-80 per cent. “It's less about the financial and more about ensuring that people want to come back.”
In addition to a reduction in theatre capacity, Van Lange says they also changed the way showings are programmed.
“In previous times, if there was a new blockbuster coming out and we knew that droves of people were going to be seeing it, we would have put it on two screens or maybe three screens in order to accommodate the number of people and have a lot of options with respect to showtimes,” Van Lange says. “Now, when a larger movie comes out, it means we are going to be putting it on five our six screens.”
Despite making similar changes at their theatre locations, Rahim Manji, proprietor of the family-run Hollywood 3 Theatres in Surrey and Pitt Meadows as well as the Caprice Cinemas in White Rock and Duncan, says their business is facing a very uncertain future.
“We're not finding enough people to come back,” Manji says. “I don't know if our doors will be open. It's a big struggle.”
Manji says they've seen a 90-93 per cent reduction in the number of customers since reopening in June. One of the biggest barriers, Manji says, is getting the word out to moviegoers that it is, indeed, safe to go see a film.
“We strive to do everything we can to keep our guests and our employees safe. We've met and exceeded public health guidelines. We're extra cautious,” Manji stresses. “As soon as someone comes in and tries it, we see that they come back. Because they see what we're doing.”
Another barrier to survival, according to Manji, is the increasingly common delay or pushback of Hollywood film releases by distributors facing sluggish box office numbers in most markets. Without new films, Manji says, people don't want to visit a movie theatre, especially not if the film that's on offer is something they could stream at home.