Movie Theaters Reduce Hours

[Frank Cox]

Re: cardrooms.

In the town where I used to live there was a semi-secret 24-hour rolling poker game in a room behind the coin laundromat. As far as I know it never stopped. 24/7/365, decades on end. It's probably running still.

[Leo Enticknap]

However, without New York and Los Angeles in play, the $200 million tentpole has struggled...

It looks like Los Angeles is not going to be in play in the near future, either. LA County's Board of Supervisors just voted to allow nail salons, indoor malls (at 25% occupancy and with food courts closed) and "cardrooms" (have such things ever existed since the days of Wyatt Earp?!) to reopen; but not only do movie theaters have to stay closed, but they've actually tightened up the rules to make popup drive-in venues more difficult:

This protocol applies to both established and new drive-in movie theater operations. All drive-in movie operations must have sufficient infrastructure, staffing and training to meet all physical distancing, face covering and sanitation requirements. Established facilities with an established workforce, bathrooms and permitted food facilities are more easily able to meet safety requirements. Requirements specific to new drive-in operations being set up in parking lots and other spaces that are not pre-established drive-in movie businesses are listed at the end of this protocol.

Drive-in movie theater operations must be managed by a single employer in charge of the site, who will take responsibility for the ongoing training and screening of all staff, provision of all needed equipment and materials, the monitoring of adherence to all safety measures during any showing and obtaining approvals from local zoning and city officials, if required.

Live drive-in events (e.g. concerts, live performances) are not allowed at this time. Drive in theaters may project livestreamed content that is filmed elsewhere as long as the filming adhered to the requirements detailed in Appendix J.

Any food service must be from an on-site licensed restaurant, permitted concession stand, or prepackaged food from a market permitted by Environmental Health. Food may be purchased and picked up onsite or ordered through third party delivery services and delivered to the customer’s vehicle. These food facilities must adhere to all applicable restaurant and/or food service reopening protocols. Attendees may bring their own food. Temporary concession stands and other food facilities (e.g. catered food, food trucks, food carts) are not allowed.

So no drive-in live entertainment or roach coaches, basically. The latter in particular will kibosh a lot of the popups that were being planned.

[Frank Cox]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...rticleId=58167

Some circuits are going further and closing locations in smaller markets on certain weekdays.


Only a month after beginning to reopen where allowed, struggling U.S. movie theaters are retreating and reducing their hours of operation as Hollywood studios continue to delay tentpoles including Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Widow because of the ongoing pandemic.

That means the next big event pic isn't until Nov. 20, when both James Bond installment No Time to Die and Pixar's Soul are scheduled to unfurl over the Thanksgiving corridor. Hopes are high that both films will restart the box office recovery.

Many circuits, including AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark — the country's three largest chains — are beginning to limit the number of showtimes, as are scores of other chains and independent houses in order to reduce costs, sources say.

Some, including Cinemark and Marcus Theatres, are going further and closing a small number of their cinemas on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. About 15 or so Marcus theaters and a dozen or so Cinemark sites in smaller or relatively quiet markets have been impacted. Whether other companies follow suit remains to be seen.

In a comment to The Hollywood Reporter, a Cinemark spokesman said that approximately 75 percent of the circuit is open.

"Cinemark's reopening plan was thoughtfully and strategically designed with multiple contingencies in place to ensure we are able to be nimble and react as needed to the ever-changing environment," the circuit said in the statement. "That said, we will evaluate opportunities to align with demand, including reducing operating hours while we await new studio content to encourage theatrical moviegoing."

The lack of Hollywood studio product poses a serious dilemma for cinemas, which have spent millions on new safety and social distancing protocols in the campaign to lure consumers back to to theaters in the COVID-19 era, including reduced capacity.

"It's going to be a horrible October," says one studio distributor.

Theaters reopened where they were allowed in time for Christopher Nolan's Tenet, which unfurled over Labor Day weekend. However, without New York and Los Angeles in play, the $200 million tentpole has struggled, grossing $41 million domestically through Sept. 27. Exhibitors had hoped that Tenet would be followed by Mulan, but that tentpole was sent straight to Disney+ at a premium price in the U.S. over the Labor Day frame.

Wonder Woman 1984 had been set to open Oct. 2, but Warners pushed the sequel to Dec. 25 days after Tenet debuted. That was followed by Disney moving Black Widow from Nov. 6 of this year to May 2021. The impact of the shifts was immediate.

According to Comscore, there were 3,453 out of roughly 6,o00 North American theaters back in operation over the weekend of Sept. 18-20, as more jurisdictions allowed moviegoing. As of now, that number has been reduced to 3,350.

New indie studio Solstice Studios, founded by Mark Gill, provided the first new wide release when opening the Russell Crowe road-rage thriller Unhinged on Aug. 21.The film has earned $17.1 million to date domestically.

On Sunday, Solstice warned in a box office note that October would be challenged because of reduced showtimes and closures. The indie studio said it will make every effort to run promotions and help incentivize cinemas to stay open.

Some in the film industry are optimistic that cinemas in Los Angeles may be allowed to reopen in the coming weeks. Ditto for New York City. The two cities are the biggest moviegoing markets in the country.

The (larger) theatre about 20 miles from here opened for a couple of weeks in July and then re-closed, and none of the other smaller theatres in this are have re-opened at all.

I'm the last man standing. I had thought that people would come here from some of these other places to see a movie, but that's not happening either.

I thought I had finally found a winner when I got 25 people here this past Friday for Jurassic Park. Woo hoo! Biggest crowd I've seen since all this started, finally found a movie that people want to see!

I've had 0, 1 or 2 people here to see it every night since so I guess it was a one night wonder. Sigh...

My costs to show a movie (or not) aren't that high since I don't have any labour costs. I turn on the lights and unlock the door; if nobody's here by showtime I lock up again and switch the lights off. Ultimately, I might be breaking even these days, at best. I don't know how theatres that have to pay a three hour minimum wage could do it.