AMC Theatres, hoping to reopen in mid-July, postpones date amid COVID-19 spike
Leawood-based AMC Theatres, which controls a quarter of the 40,000 indoor movie screen in the United States, said on Monday that it was pushing back the reopening of its theaters from July 15 to July 30.
The change comes on the heels of the announcement by Warner Bros. that Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” scheduled to open on July 17, then pushed to July 30, has now been pushed to Aug. 12. The thriller was looked at as litmus test for patrons’ return to the movies, which have been shut down since the COVID-19 outbreak began to spread widely in mid-March.
COVID-19 cases have been resurging nationwide as communities and businesses have reopened.
“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,” AMC CEO and President Adam Aron said in a press release.
The company has to take into account its largest markets. Last week, for example, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York would delay reopening cinemas while it continued to research the safety of indoor, air-conditioned venues.
AMC said that the general managers at its 600-plus U.S. theaters, which include about 11,000 movie screens, started work again Monday to prepare for reopening. In late March, AMC closed all of its theaters and furloughed its corporate staff, including the CEO, meaning their hours and pay were lowered or reduced to zero.
Its subsidiary Odeon Cinemas Group, the largest movie theater operator in Europe, closed hundreds of locations.
In mid-June, AMC was criticized after it announced that it would not require patrons to wear masks. “We did not want to be drawn into a political controversy,” Aron said in an interview with Variety.
The company reversed itself one day later and will require masks on employees and customers.
The coronavirus is just one factor in when movie theaters will reopen. They also need new films to show.
Disney’s live-action “Mulan,” which was originally set to open in March, was pushed back to July 24 — and now to Aug. 21.
The action-thriller “Unhinged” is set for July 31, and the romantic comedy “Broken Hearts Gallery” for Aug. 7. Several movies, including “Saint Maud,” “New Mutants,” “Fatima” and “Face the Music,” are scheduled for Aug. 28. “Wonder Woman 1985,” originally slated to open in June, was pushed to Aug. 12 and now is scheduled to be released on Oct. 2.
This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 2:38 PM.
