AMC delays reopening theaters due to increased COVID-19 cases
On June 29, AMC Theaters – the largest movie exhibition company in the United States and around the globe with approximately 1,000 theatres and 11,000 screens worldwide – announced that the mega chain will resume theatre operations for approximately 450 of their U.S. locations on Thursday, July 30. One week later, AMC’s approximately 150 remaining locations will resume operations in time for a theatrical onslaught of films commencing in August.
AMC currently expects that at least some theatres in all the 14 countries in which AMC operates outside the U.S. will have opened by July 30 as well, with a full global opening of theatres completed by early August. Originally, AMC had their reopening scheduled for July 15 but pushed the date back by two weeks because of the nationwide spike in COVID-19 outbreaks.
AMC announced that it is implementing new safety and cleaning procedures earlier this month, which it said would help keep its theaters free of COVID-19. However, the company inspired fierce blowback when CEO Adam Aron said it would not force patrons to wear masks in states where it wasn’t legally required because it wanted to involve getting dragged into a political controversy. The theater chain later backtracked and said it would require ticket-buyers to wear masks. ~ Yahoo! News
The new reopening date aligns with updated release timings for major theatrical blockbusters like Warner Bros’ Tenet (August 12) and Disney’s Mulan (August 21). AMC is offering movie-goers a broad selection of other new releases in July and August, including Solstice’s action thriller Unhinged (July 31), Sony’s romantic comedy The Broken Hearts Gallery (August 7), A24’s psychological horror film Saint Maud, Disney/Marvel’s action fantasy film New Mutants (August 28), Picturehouse’s inspirational drama Fatima (August 28), Orion’s comedy Bill And Ted Face The Music (August 28), and others.
Additionally, Warner Bros. will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Christopher Nolan’s Inception with a re-release on July 31st. Once the U.S. reopening commences, AMC will have theatres open in all 15 countries in which AMC operates. Theatres in all 14 countries AMC serves in Europe and the Middle East either opened in June or are planned to open in July as well.
Barring further complications from the coronavirus outbreak, AMC expects to be open at essentially its full complement of approximately 1,000 theatres globally by early August.
Adam Aron, CEO & President, AMC Theatres said, “We continue to devote extraordinary resources into our plan to operate our theatres with a hyper commitment to the safety and health of our guests and associates, notably in the United States through our new AMC Safe & Clean initiative. Our theatre general managers across the U.S. started working full time again today and are back in their theatres gearing up to get their buildings fully ready just a few weeks from now for moviegoers. That happy day, when we can welcome guests back into most of our U.S. theatres, will be Thursday, July 30.”
For more information, visit www.amctheatres.com.
(Source: AMC Theaters)
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
