Back in March, when the cinemas around the world began to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, analysts were hoping it would only last for a couple of months, maybe three or four, at the most. Seven months later, and though many cinemas are open, tickets are barely being sold and the outlook appears to be grim. Now, the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) is here with a Hail Mary pass (to use a football term) to save cinemas.
Over the summer, NATO started a #SaveYourCinema social media campaign to urge American film fans to write members of Congress to ask for financial assistance for theater owners struggling to stay afloat. At the time, NATO says 100,000 people wrote 300,000 letters asking politicians for assistance. And now, in October, help doesn’t seem to be on its way. This has put the theatrical exhibition business in a truly existential crisis.
“The stark reality is that many movie theaters will not be able to open again if they don’t receive government help,” says Esther Baruh, director of government relations for NATO. “This is as urgent as it gets. The exhibition industry thrived before this pandemic and it will thrive again, but theaters and their employees need a bridge to get them to that point.”
With that in mind, NATO is hoping that a new call-to-action for film fans will bring the number of letters sent to Congress up to 500,000, in a last-ditch effort to get some money from the CARES Act (which was passed months ago) or future packages to get allocated to help theater owners survive this situation. Because without it, NATO warns, “69% of small and mid-sized movie theater companies will be forced to file for bankruptcy or to close permanently, and 66% of theater jobs will be lost.”
If you’re interested in helping out and writing congress, you can go to the #SaveYourCinema website and do your part.