The movie capital of the world will soon be back in business. Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state will reopen entirely on June 15th, provided COVID-19 case numbers do not rise significantly and vaccinations proceed at their current pace. Everyone in California age sixteen or older will be eligible to get vaccinated as of April 15th, which means that considerably more of the population will be fully inoculated by that target June date and ready to flock back to movie theaters.
It’s been more than a year since Newsom announced in March 2020 that theaters would need to close along with other business like bars and gyms. Though some reopened after that, they were once again shut down by Newsom in July.
The entire Regal Cinemas chain, operated by Cineworld Group, closed in October as a result of minimal exhibition opportunities and the risk of transmission in auditoriums. Regal began reopening earlier this month, while competitor AMC Theaters previously announced that 98% of its U.S. locations, including all in Los Angeles and San Diego, would be open as of March 19th.
Theaters being closed in one of the country’s biggest markets has contributed to distributors opting to either push back their slates indefinitely or release films on streaming services, which has led to mixed reactions from filmmakers. Capacity limits in place on how many people can be in seats in every showing has also impacted how profitable even those theaters that were open could be, and those will hopefully be lifted soon. California Director of Health Services Dr.
Mark Ghaly mentioned concerts specifically, noting that, “Yes, we feel comfortable at letting those limits go to full capacity,” which gives movie theaters the all clear as well. A mask mandate will still remain in effect even with this full reopening.
This news is welcome to an industry that has been itching to get back to full operations, and movie theaters should be well-equipped with a number of completed projects that have been sitting on the shelves. The Los Angeles Times reports that other facets of the performing arts community are excited but also unsure of what they can do and how quickly they can get their productions back up and running. Changing regulations over the course of the past year have led to numerous false starts and repeated closures, and it makes sense that those operating venues would want to be completely sure of what they are legally allowed to do before executing a significant relaunch.