Texas is one of the first states in the US to begin reopening non-essential businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. And as such, the state is also one of the first to reopen movie theaters. Albeit, the cinemas that are reopening aren’t doing things quite as they did before March.
According to Variety, Texas theaters such as EVO Entertainment and Santikos Entertainment, are reopening, but they’re doing so with incredibly strict sanitation and distancing guidelines. At EVO, the company is said to reopen two theaters today and will do so with “airport security-style check-in.” The check-in procedure begins at the front door where guests will be asked if they or anyone in their household has had flu-like symptoms in the past 14 days. Then they’ll be subject to infrared temperature readings, with anyone scoring above a 100.4-degree temp being turned away.
In addition, both EVO and Santikos are changing how they prepare guest’s food and hand it off to customers, as well as eliminating all cash transactions. Both companies will force workers to wear masks, while EVO is going the extra step of making sure all customers do the same. Also, as you might expect, social distancing is the norm, with rows being left vacant and guests being forced to sit at least six feet apart.
“I feel like it’s really important for our guests to come in and see what we’re doing to protect them,” EVO Entertainment CEO Mitchell Roberts said. “The focus is on earning that customer confidence back.”
“We’re operating more for psychological value than net income,” said Santikos Entertainment CEO Tim Handren. “That’s what theaters are for — an escape. We’re going to provide that escape.”
He added, “It’s gonna be incredibly, incredibly safe. We’re going to be a finely tuned machine with all the protocols that are required.”
As far as what films are being screened, at EVO, the selection will include “The Goonies,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” and “American Sniper.” The latter being called a “local favorite.”
“We’re looking at positive, feel-good stuff,” Roberts said. “Everyone has the same programming mantra — classic films, good, popular stuff.”
At both EVO and Santikos, the cost of these features will be $5, which is expected to be the way many theaters will charge moving forward. That is, until studios release new big features, including “Tenet” on July 17.
It’s unclear how any of these precautions will affect the number of people that return to theaters. As we’ve seen recently, the survey’s point to the general public being very wary of running back to enjoy films on the big screen, so we’ll just have to wait and see how these reopenings fare. Regardless, it appears that going to the cinema is going to change greatly for film fans moving forward.