Have you missed the movies? SLO County theaters are reopening after COVID closures
After more than six months of darkened screens and empty seats, movie theaters in San Luis Obispo County are starting to flicker back to life.
As of Tuesday, San Luis Obispo County is in California’s red COVID-19 tier — meaning that coronavirus condition is considered “substantial” as opposed to “widespread” and more business sectors may reopen or expand their services.
Local movie theaters, which collectively closed their doors in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, are allowed to open indoors with maximum capacity of 25% of 100 people, whichever is fewer.
Regal Cinemas in Arroyo Grande reopened Tuesday night with screenings of new action movies “Tenet” and “The New Mutants.”
Wednesday’s schedule included screenings of the thriller “Unhinged” and the historical dramedy “The Personal History of David Copperfield,” as well as an older family comedy, “Minions.”
Regal Cinemas’ two Santa Maria theaters remain “temporarily closed due to local restrictions,” the company website says.
Park Cinemas in Paso Robles, which issued a public plea for help this month, will open its doors Oct. 9, theater president John Roush confirmed Wednesday via email.
Asked how he feels about reopening the theater he helped found 23 years ago, Roush wrote, “Very excited! Very, very relieved! (It) will give us a chance to survive!”
On Sept. 7, Roush and his daughters, theater co-owners Jennifer Roush Kloth and Catherine Roush, created a GoFundMe campaign to help Park Cinemas pay its bills — operating expenses such as electricity, water, sewer and trash bills as well as the cost of leasing a 26,000-square-foot building.
As of Thursday, the Save The Park Cinemas fundraiser had raised more than $15,900 toward a $250,000 goal.
SLO County movie theaters take coronavirus safety measures
When Park Cinemas reopens its doors, Roush said there will be extensive safety measures in place.
Seating will be spaced at least six feet apart and sprayed with isopropyl alcohol between uses, Roush told The Tribune on Sept. 10.
Moviegoers will be asked to wear masks, while employees will wear masks and gloves and stand behind plastic dividers. They’ll also have access to 20 sanitizer dispensers stationed through the theater.
Regal Cinemas and Galaxy Theatres, which has a movie theater in Atascadero and is still considering its reopening plan, are among more than 390 companies nationwide participating CinemaSafe, a program commissioned by the National Association of Theatre Owners.
The companies have committed to “implementing expert-backed, industry-specific health and safety protocols” to protect customers and employees during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the CinemaSafe website.
Those protocols include mandatory face masks for employees and customers, as well as social distancing, reduced capacity, air filtration and enhanced cleaning measures that include disinfecting auditoriums between screenings and wiping down “high-touch surfaces,” the website said.
Patrons at CinemaSafe theaters are encouraged to buy movie tickets online or via phone —“to reduce the need to stand in line for tickets” — and pay for concessions with credit cards as opposed to cash.
Some local theaters still closed for now
Not all local theaters are ready to open their doors to moviegoers.
“We are sorry to say that we will not be reopening this Friday, September 25th,” Fair Oaks Theatre in Arroyo Grande announced Tuesday via its Facebook page. “We hope to reopen soon.”
Galaxy Theatres’ Colony Square location in Atascadero also doesn’t have a set reopening date at this time, according to general manager Loren Kaplan.
“We want to reopen, but we want to be smart about that,” Kaplan said Wednesday. “We are prepared to do so. We just want to make sure it makes (financial) sense.”
Kaplan said the Atascadero theater is receiving “a lot of requests for private screenings” — now available at reopened Galaxy Theatres locations.
For $99 a screening, a maximum of 20 people can watch movies on the big screen, Kaplan explained, choosing from a list from studio-provided movies or bringing in their own BluRays or DVDs from home.
He said Galaxy Theatres in Atascadero may also offer that option in the future.
Jim Dee, owner of the Palm Theatre in San Luis Obispo, said it’s “still way too premature to open.”
“Folks sitting in an enclosed space for two hours is still unsafe, and my employees would be even more exposed,” Dee wrote in an email. “I’m going by my own guidelines, and beyond safety, I wouldn’t want the Palm to be a place tagged as a spreader business.”
A representative for The Movie Experience, which operates Downtown Centre Cinemas in San Luis Obispo, confirmed that the theater has yet to reopen.
“As of right now we are not sure when we will actually open our doors,” Pamela Halchishak wrote in an email Thursday. “We have to make sure our theatre can run smoothly and safe before we can open up BUT I can say it should be within the next couple of weeks if all goes well.”
San Luis Obispo’s Sunset Drive-In theater has been open since May after closing in March due to COVID-19.
This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Have you missed the movies? SLO County theaters are reopening after COVID closures."
