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I don't see social distancing being a problem since I don't think I've been in a packed theater for maybe 7-8 years. Maybe half-full at the most for the last 3-4 years I went, but I also didn't go at evening or night screenings. Maybe the chains can close concession stands and for once, acknowledge that most of us get our candy from elsewhere anyway and encourage that.

I think it's one thing to be optimistic about actual viral cases being lower or non existent but what we're not accounting for is audience participation. Just because Tenet might come to theaters doesn't mean people will actually go due to underlying fears of being infected. Audience willingness to participate interests me far more here than theaters actually showing new films.

flyonthewall2983 wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 7:35 pm I don't see social distancing being a problem since I don't think I've been in a packed theater for maybe 7-8 years. Maybe half-full at the most for the last 3-4 years I went, but I also didn't go at evening or night screenings. Maybe the chains can close concession stands and for once, acknowledge that most of us get our candy from elsewhere anyway and encourage that.

I’ve gone to midnight/opening night screenings for all Nolan’s movies beginning with The Dark Knight and they are always packed.

Why would they close concession stands? While I don’t personally spend my money there, that proposal makes no sense. How does it affect those who don’t purchase food there if they stay open? Plenty of people do buy concessions and this only helps theatres stay open. I don’t need acknowledgement/encouragement of my choice if it helps them accrue much-needed revenue. Especially if you consider possible protocols that will need to take place to re-open theatres (taking seats out to ensure distance, hiking up ticket prices to account for those seats) I’d rather they keep themselves afloat through food than pay even more than double price for a ticket. Either way, they need to stay in business, and although I don’t know statistics, I wouldn’t bet on “most” theatre patrons skipping the concession stands, and certainly not specifically bringing candy in from the outside.

Concessions are the only part that goes right to the theatre, they’re never, ever going to close that up

Wishful thinking on my part then. I guess the people behind the counter can still serve food with the measures in place.

domino harvey wrote:Concessions are the only part that goes right to the theatre, they’re never, ever going to close that up

To that point, before most first run films return, I wouldn’t be surprised to see studios offer films like the Indiana Jones series or Harry Potter films for theatres to explicitly run at super discount prices (like $2 or $1 per ticket), just to entice people to theatres, while knowing that concession purchases will make it worth it to theatres to open and people build back habits of going to theatres and buying more concessions

If theatres cut the seats by a third, and implement assigned seating it should be possible to reopen. But it’s still a terrible idea to do so.

domino harvey wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 8:22 pm Concessions are the only part that goes right to the theatre, they’re never, ever going to close that up

Particularly when you realize that markup for popcorn is 1275%

Big Ben wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 8:17 pm I think it's one thing to be optimistic about actual viral cases being lower or non existent but what we're not accounting for is audience participation. Just because Tenet might come to theaters doesn't mean people will actually go due to underlying fears of being infected. Audience willingness to participate interests me far more here than theaters actually showing new films.

Absolutely agree. The psychology of all this is the unknown. Will people pack theaters when you could stay home and stream? I bet on streaming is the way many will go. Could you imagine a person sneezing in a crowded theater. It'll be like yelling fire. It's a shame this is what it's come to.

Maybe Nolan and WB will hold off on the IMax shows until things have really settled down if such a time comes

Theaters attendance in the US has already been steadily dropping over the past years. It'll be interesting to see if this is simply pushing this trend forward or if people will really get kinda scared of going to theaters because of the virus on a mid-term scale.

However, looking at how many seem just not to care at all and are just eager to get back to their lives, I wonder what kind of population usually fills the theaters in the first place.
And how long it'll take once theaters re-open to find a cluster coming from there.

Like I’ve said since March, Tenet will be the actual bellwether on reopening/return to normalcy. It still sounds optimistic/harmful to encourage mass congregation in an enclosed space with strangers, but...

Our local cinema (a small four screens - the largest in 120 seats) reopens on Saturday. Luckily, we're a small island and have grown ups in charge - and kept deaths to a very low two figures (almost all in care homes) and no current known cases - so we're in a privileged position.

Most of the films are carryovers from pre-lockdown (Military Wives, Onward), there is one reissue (Dirty Dancing) and, which we're going to see with our daughter, Trolls: World Tour (which is being advertised as one of the first cinema screenings in the world!).

The cinema is operating a social distancing policy (and was so for two weeks pre lockdown) - only one of every three rows is available, and presumably there will be empty seats between each block of seats purchased. I'll update after our visit.

The biggest problem with concessions is that you can’t wear a mask while you’re eating and drinking.

I feel like I desperately want to go to a movie again, but I also feel like ... I dunno. Besides the obvious question of sitting in an enclosed space for a couple hours with a bunch of people, I would also have to rely on public transit to get to a decent theater in the first place. I have some risk tolerance as far as this goes, but I’m not there yet.

Brian C wrote:The biggest problem with concessions is that you can’t wear a mask while you’re eating and drinking.

I feel like I desperately want to go to a movie again, but I also feel like ... I dunno. Besides the obvious question of sitting in an enclosed space for a couple hours with a bunch of people, I would also have to rely on public transit to get to a decent theater in the first place. I have some risk tolerance as far as this goes, but I’m not there yet.

I too desperately want to go to a theatre again, but in my reddish suburb I don’t trust any of the people who might go to the theatre to be anything less than “mockingly deliberately coughing on others” sort of bullying behavior and possibly opening myself up to attack (to remove the mask) if I were to go to the local theatre in July for Tenet wearing a mask.

So I will probably drive into the city to a high end theatre and since there it is much more liberal, diverse and denser I would feel much safer than a theatre in the suburbs, because there I would anticipate people attending and staff to be as assiduous as I will be in social distancing and mask protocol.

Unless my wife doesn’t want me to go to a theatre by that point, in which case I’ll happily respect her wishes and not go. The US will probably be at over 200,000 deaths and 5 million cases by mid July, so I doubt things will be much different overall or will be attending tenet.

Our cinema trip turned out to be a bit of a non-event and unenlightening. There were only two other people in the cinema - we were in the front row, they were in the middle of the cinema. The cinema instituted a sort-of-snake for going in and out to separate queues, and the concessions stall was open (disposable gloves provided for the pic-n-mix, everything else prepacked or controlled by the staff). What it will be like with more people is hard to guess - but I doubt the cinema is planning on much more than 20% attendance (yesterday was also hot and fine - always a negative for cinema attendance in Britain).

AMC expressing “substantial doubts” they can stay in business

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/media/a ... index.html

Sample of best practices for making movies while following social distancing guidelines, from Theo Angelopoulos:

AMC said yesterday wearing masks was a political issue and it wouldn't require them. I was surprised it made that statement.

Today, the inevitable walk back - essentially equivalent to the edit button on message boards. I think we need to pay no heed to anything remotely controversial said by anyone. The apology is always around the corner.

Drafthouse rode the controversy to come out with a statement that they will definitely require patrons wear masks...

...except when eating.

Which is just a ridiculous caveat... Are they going to make their waiters walk around and demand people not actively consuming food put masks on? How many minutes since last mouthful of popcorn does one get before being chastised to mask up?

AMC reversed its policy and now will require masks when they open July 15.

Eating and drinking are definitely concerns, as you really can't do them while masked up. And movie theaters make money off of their concession sales.

I thought about that when I was on 7 flights in a 2 week period Feb 19 to March 3. I thought the airlines should serve food to every other row, so mask-wearing would be staggered one row with, next row without. Then they come back down the aisle and get the remaining rows. Seemed like an easy and better solution that everybody putting aside their mask at the same feeding time. Of course this doesn't apply to movie theaters at all.

Have to say that sitting in a theater and wearing a mask for an hour and a half to 2 hours watching a film doesn't sound appealing to me. Especially if others are removing their masks to eat and drink. If the theater isn't crowded and people spaced out, it's not much of a problem. Though 1 1/2 to two hours indoors wearing a mask sounds uncomfortable.

This is unenforceable. They can control what happens in the lobby. But in the dark of the movie theater, patrons could take off their masks. Who’s checking?

Lemmy Caution wrote: Sat Jun 20, 2020 10:17 am Though 1 1/2 to two hours indoors wearing a mask sounds uncomfortable.

Which is why I don’t plan on stepping foot inside a movie theater or restaurant until it is entirely safe to do so mask-free, which I wouldn’t anticipate being the case until at least spring of 2021. As someone who used to frequent both theaters and restaurants at least a couple of times a month, this will be difficult, but if I’m wearing a mask and/or worried about Covid the whole time, the constant distraction simply isn’t worth it.

I noticed recently that some of the US stations are showing classic episodes of soaps in place of the regularly scheduled ones. What has been happening in the UK regarding Coronation Street and Eastenders and the like?