LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
Century Theatres quietly re-opens for Vallejo moviegoers
In times of economic decline, movie-going has traditionally thrived. During the Great Depression, it was an affordable way to escape reality for two hours and get lost in Shirley Temple, Cary Grant, and the Three Stooges.
But a global pandemic? While we were stuck at home, Netflix reported record profits, and the streaming services like Disney+, HBO-Max, Amazon and Hulu have more than cushioned the blow COVID-19 took on our entertainment fixes — often with first-run, big-name Hollywood movie releases.
But for many, there’s still nothing like going into a real theater, buying your weight in popcorn, candy, and soda, settling into heated, reclining chairs — and seeing a movie on a bigger screen than your television.
On Friday, as we hit the “red tier” in Solano County, Vallejo’s Century Theater was back in proverbial business, as they say. Social distancing guidelines are in place in each auditorium with staggered seating and the chain has beefed up its fresh-air circulation, it says.
Carlito Helson, 24, said he is happy to be back at the movies again and isn’t nervous about catching the virus. He and his friend got tickets to “Boogie,” Eddie Huang’s film about basketball dreams and the pressures of high school.
The Century Theater — under the umbrella of Cinemark Holdings, has rolled out what it refers to as the “Cinemark Standard” of cleanliness — disinfecting surfaces every 30 minutes, including door handles, countertops, handrails, bathrooms, and food prep and check-out areas.
In the theaters themselves, customers can use seat-wipes
to re-clean their seats and armrests. Auditoriums are also sprayed down “regularly,” they say, with COVID-19 killing agents that are approved by the EPA. Employees could be seen sanitizing areas on Friday.
None of this seemed to concern the few people who arrived to see the first shows at the
theater’s opening on Friday. A woman who works in health care said she was going to wear her face shield, but she had no worries about catching anything. It wasn’t exactly blockbuster numbers — so few people arrived to see movies at the 1 p.m. hour that social distancing wasn’t even a
problem.
Most customers bought tickets for showings later in the day. One Vallejoan said he was excited not only for the return of movies, but that there was a discount on snacks. Popcorn, hot dogs, and drinks are all at a reduced rate right now. In fact, for only $10 (relatively cheap in movie theater prices) you can get the equivalent of three large tubs of popcorn. The first man in line was there just to get the popcorn, he said, returning to his car with a big bag of the stuff.
Century also is offering “private party” group rates for older movies and new movies in the hopes of boosting sales. The cost is $99 for “comeback classics” or $149 for current films.
Health experts told the New York Times back in September that it was still not a good idea to go to the movies, but Robert Lahita, medical school professor at Rutgers, told The Atlantic in February that there is no reason people should avoid theaters now if the proper precautions — masks, sanitizing, and good air circulation — are taken.