AMC Theatres in peril amid coronavirus fears. Will KC go back to the movies?
OK, here’s the plan: First, we beat the virus. Then we defeat the fear.
That’s what we’ve got to do, after all. There’s no alternative, especially for any enterprise like the movie theater business that relies exclusively on crowds.
The coronavirus pandemic has become nothing less than an existential threat to movie theaters, and few communities have more to lose than Kansas City — as Leawood is home to AMC Theatres, the world’s biggest movie theater chain.
“Having AMC’s headquarters here in Leawood helps put tens of millions of dollars into the local economy each year,” says Kevin Jeffries, Leawood Chamber & Economic Development Council president and CEO. And that doesn’t even account for the civic and charitable difference such a big company can make.
Thus, beyond the crippling crisis of COVID-19 and its frightening potential effects on the storied tradition of cinema-going, lies a third grave peril — to the Kansas City economy via 630-theater-strong AMC and its 400 local staffers and 25,000 nationwide workers.
Whether or not you love movies or going to theaters, Kansas Citians should pull hard for what has become a hometown industry. And there’s something even bigger than that at stake: Since the late 1800s, film has become ingrained in both the civilization and the psyche as perhaps the best story-telling mechanism around, as well as an indispensable cultural milepost and century-old pastime.
What a travesty if a vicious virus, combined with the increasing ease and comfort of home viewing, were to sound a death knell to one of our most cherished communal experiences. Ask yourself: Why did they invent laugh tracks for TV shows? It’s because producers wanted the experience to have a group feel to it. Like a theater.
We simply can’t allow that to go away.
The challenges to getting it back, however, will be epic.
Reports indicate AMC is eyeing a Chapter 11 restructuring. And financial analyst S&P Global recently said AMC Entertainment may run out of cash by mid-summer, and doesn’t agree with AMC chief executive Adam Aron that theaters will reopen in June.
Even if they do reopen, will movie-goers flock back? While one poll indicates 70% of movie fans will return, that’s still a 30% drop-off. And 56% say they’ll be cautious about returning, waiting weeks or months after reopening. Though AMC isn’t talking, one industry analyst predicts 25% of theaters could close permanently as a result of the pandemic.
What exactly will bring customers back? First of all, confidence that theaters will be carefully cleaned, and likely that sick customers will be screened.
Overall, however, Americans’ comfort level with crowds may depend largely on science and social science: that coronavirus infections are plummeting thanks to social distancing, and that effective treatments have become widely available. Others may hold out for preventive vaccines, which could be well into next year.
And what might all this mean for theater operators that survive? Taking temperatures at the door? Requiring masks, or some proof of immunity?
The truth is, no one knows yet. And the unanswered questions hold the key for more than movie theaters. Officials for the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Ballet, Lyric Opera and more are quietly and nervously working to chart their futures, but without much of a blueprint. Despite our sadly vast experience with bloodshed and plague, this is a new and different human frontier we’ve arrived at. The good news is that movie and stage productions have always come back from war and pestilence.
Of course, there’s a new challenge today that wasn’t around in the aftermath of the world wars or the Spanish flu: home streaming services. People are settling in with them during the lockdown. It may take special offers, lower prices and other perks to pry them out of their recliners this time — although it’s also likely that the coronavirus will lead to a fair bit of cabin fever.
The struggling arts and entertainment industry may also be able to count on the sheer intrepidness of the American people. In a wholly unscientific poll of some Facebook users on what would lure them back to theaters — and amid the predictable comments on concession prices and Hollywood’s spotty quality — one respondent insisted it will take a vaccine to get him back into theaters, but several others said all it will take is “unlocking the doors.”
As long as it really is safe, that’s the spirit we’ll need.
Conquering the fear will be at least as important as vanquishing the virus.