Another Kansas City area movie theater is about to reopen. It won’t be the same
Kansas City area movie theaters are slowly, gingerly starting to reopen, even though the COVID-19 pandemic rages on.
The latest to announce: Cinemark Merriam, which will open its doors for the first time in months on Friday, Aug. 14.
To start off, the theater is showing only “Comeback Classics” — oldies including “Iron Man,” “Back to the Future” and “Ghostbusters” (the original, with Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray).
As Cinemark reopens more of its theaters across the country this month, on its website the chain promises a list of safety precautions, such as requiring masks, sanitizing busy areas every 30 minutes and allowing fewer people in auditoriums.
B&B Theatres, a national chain based in Liberty, has reopened a few locations, but they, too, are showing retro movies.
In June, the Screenland Armour in North Kansas City was the first in the area to reopen and is now showing a slate of new movies, all smaller “art house” films. It is the only theater in the area, for example, showing the new Mick Jagger film, “The Burnt Orange Heresy.”
After a summer of scheduling and delaying reopening, the nation’s largest chain, AMC Theatres based in Leawood, has not committed to a day to open its doors again.
Aside from the obvious safety issues, theaters have to contend with a lack of product coming from Hollywood. Most major movies have been put off until fall or next year or, as is the case with Disney’s upcoming live-action “Mulan,” sent straight to streaming services.
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Another Kansas City area movie theater is about to reopen. It won’t be the same."
