You probably know by now that theaters in major metropolitan areas such as New York City and Los Angeles, which make up a large portion of the box office, are finally reopening. Unfortunately, for cinema owners, they’re restricted to only 25% capacity. And according to the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), if those restrictions are relaxed more by the summer, theaters in New York City might not be able to stay open.
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Speaking to Deadline, Joe Masher, president of New York NATO, painted a fairly grim picture of the future, if the local government doesn’t relax capacity restrictions in the weeks to come. Basically, the New York NATO boss said local theaters need to be at 50% capacity by Memorial Day Weekend (May 28) and at 75% by the July 4th holiday for NYC cinemas to survive. And as of now, it’s unclear if those deadlines will be met.
“We are at the Governor’s door every morning with a call or an email trying to get to a minimum of 50% right now across the state, given the fact that there are zero cases of COVID from theaters and that people clearly want to go to the movies,” Masher said. “We just can’t make it at 25%. We have to accommodate the movie-going audience. We can safely do so.”
He added, “[The NY Governor’s office says] there are rising numbers and variants and they’re watching them closely before they make any decisions.”
As mentioned, currently, theaters in NYC are sitting at 25% capacity. Considering the cost of doing business in the city, that number isn’t sustainable, according to the report. And one of the main issues that New York NATO has with how the state is handling reopening cinemas is how the organization feels theaters are being unfairly held to a higher standard than local restaurants are able to be open at 50% for indoor seating.
Right now, NATO is hoping by April 23, when “Mortal Kombat” is released, theaters can be open at 50%. And then, shortly thereafter, the restrictions can be further relaxed. But as is abundantly clear from these comments, if things don’t change in NYC by the summer, cinemas in the city might be in a lot of trouble.