As I pointed out in my previous video, movie theaters throughout the United States will probably reopen in mid-July for the release of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Disney’s Mulan. Quite a few things have changed since then.
- Two weeks ago AMC Theatres announced that they will reopen most theaters throughout the United States and the world by July 15, 2020.
- Tenet rescheduled from July 15th to July 31st to give Mulan the honors of opening first on July 24th.
- And then the coronavirus pandemic got worse in the United States, as confirmed cases surged in Arizona, Florida, and Texas.
Not surprisingly, Tenet rescheduled to August 15th, Mulan rescheduled to August 21st, and AMC delayed their reopening to July 30th. Will movie theaters still reopen this summer?
AMC Theatres outlined that they will reopen their theaters with the following safeguards in place:
- Employees will wear face masks and clean the theaters in between showings.
- Concessions will have a limited food menu to get people through the lines as fast as possible.
- Theater seating will be 25% of capacity to permit groups of people to sit apart.
If those steps sound familiar, it’s the same steps that theaters in San Antonio, TX, took when they reopened a few months ago.
AMC didn’t require guests to wear face masks since they didn’t want to deal with a “political controversy”. Social media, of course, turned it into a political controversy anyway. AMC, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark then announced that guests will have to wear face masks inside the theaters. No doubt a local Karen will make an issue out of that.
The rescheduling of Tenet from July 15th to July 31st should have been a blessing in disguise for the movie theaters. No one knows what the plot for Tenet is other than being another mind bender like Inception, which may still come out in theaters on July 17th for its tenth anniversary. While Tenet would attract a dedicated audience, it won’t inspire everyone else to get off the fence and come back to the movie theaters.
Mulan, however, would get parents to bring their kids to the movie theaters just to see something new. If parents think that the movie theaters are safe for kids, people without kids may think it’s safe for them to come back. Mulan has a better chance of getting a larger audience to come out than Tenet does. If Disney thinks that Mulan will do poorly at the box office, they could reschedule to later date.
Disney did reschedule Mulan to August 21st after Tenet rescheduled to August 15th in response to the pandemic getting worse in Arizona, Florida, and Texas. AMC delayed their re-opening from July 15th to July 29th to stay in sync with the two tent-pole movies. If things continue to get worse, the studios and AMC could reschedule everything again.
Will movie theaters still reopen this summer?
Maybe. With the coronavirus surging out of control, many states are slowing or pausing reopening. Arizona already ordered the closing of movie theaters for a month.