Cineplex Inc. is inching towards a gradual reopening of its Canadian theatres, starting with six locations in Alberta later this month.
The company then hopes to reopen on July 3 in as many other markets across the country as government and health authorities allow, as COVID-19 restrictions begin to loosen.
This includes Famous Players 6 Cinemas in Prince George.
The rollout will introduce a number of new measures, including reserved seating in all auditoriums to ensure physical distancing between moviegoers, and staggered showtimes to reduce congestion in theatre lobbies.
The company acknowledged that despite plans to reopen, it expects COVID-19 to have "a prolonged negative impact on Cineplex's operations," and it has enacted layoffs, reduced capital spending and negotiated rent relief with landlords to help mitigate the financial hit.
Cineplex closed all of its 164 theatres nationwide in mid-March, around the same time film distributors largely put a stop to new titles.
“As of tomorrow (June 16), it will have been exactly three months since we temporarily closed our network of theatres and entertainment venues, and the day our doors closed was the day our team began diligently preparing for their safe reopening,” says Sarah Van Lange, executive director of communications for Cineplex.
“At all of our theatres and entertainment venues we will be enhancing our cleaning protocols to the highest levels, ensuring our team has the personal protective equipment they need to keep everyone safe and implementing physical distancing measures throughout our buildings, including our lobbies, games floors and food service areas.”
While a trickle of smaller movies have been released over the past few months, largely at drive-in theatres, Hollywood studios have been reluctant to return to business as usual without confidence that people would consider visiting their local cinemas.
Warner Bros. recently pushed Christopher Nolan's "Tenet,'' one of few big summer movies still on the schedule, back two weeks to July 31, and postponed "Wonder Woman 1984'' from August until the fall.
Other regions of the world have struggled to get movie theatres back up and running.
Chinese officials allowed many local theatres to reopen, only to force them closed again over concerns of a second wave of infections.
- with files from The Canadian Press
