- Insider spoke to several movie theater owners and executives to find out what steps they are taking to stay in business during the coronavirus.
- Theaters are obeying the CDC's guidelines to not allow more than 50 people in a public setting (that number was changed to 10 people on Monday).
- Many theaters are making sure patrons don't sit near one another.
- Some chains are considering rereleasing older movies.
- There are major challenges for theaters going forward. Not just the lack of new releases in the near future but, on Monday, Universal announced it will allow its upcoming movie "Trolls World Tour" to be available On Demand as well as in theaters.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Movie theaters around the world are doing something that has never happened in its history. They are closing their doors.
The coronavirus has forced many chains and individual arthouses to close up for the foreseeable future (including big chain Regal), or were forced to because of state-mandated orders. It's a position that movie theater owners rarely experience, as it's an unspoken rule within the business that theaters are always operational. Whether it be a snow storm or an event that shakes a nation, when people need escapism, movie theaters are always there.
Which is what makes the coronavirus so unprecedented: the community setting of a movie theater can raise your chances of getting the virus.
On top of that, movie studios are fleecing the theaters of their products. Several big name titles that were to hit theaters in the coming weeks have been pulled to either later in the year or will be given a new date in the future.
And on Monday, Universal announced that it would make its upcoming title, "Trolls World Tour," a day-and-date release. Meaning the movie will be available to steam On Demand as well as be available in theaters. Universal titles currently in theaters like "The Invisible Man," "The Hunt," and "Emma" (released by Universal's specialty label, Focus Features) will also be available.
This marks the first time a major Hollywood studio is passing on showing a title exclusively in theaters for at least 78 days before making it available for streaming or Blu-ray/DVD.
"We are now nothing but giant buildings with seats," one theater owner said bluntly about the reality of the situation.
However, there are still some theaters that are continuing on. Here are the steps they are taking to keep their doors open.
For now, at least.
Note: This post was originally published on March 16 and will be updated as theaters continue to be impacted by the coronavirus.
Keeping moviegoers far from one another.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidelines on Sunday on how to combat the coronavirus, and one of them was that no gathering could have more than 50 people. The movie theater owners and executives that still have chains in operation told Insider that is not an issue as most if not all screenings aren't seeing close to 50 patrons at the same screening time (on Monday the CDC changed that to no more than 10 people).
And for the people who are showing up, ushers are being told to make sure those patrons sit a far distance from one another.
"We are having people encouraging patrons to select another seat if they sit by someone," Russell Vannorsdel, the vice president of the Iowa-based chain Fridley Theatres, told Insider. "We will even have them change auditoriums if they want to or come back on a different day to see the movie."
Considering rereleasing old movies
Several theaters told Insider they have been offered to run titles that are toward the end of their theatrical runs (like "Bad Boys for Life" or Frozen II") or old classic titles (one title numerous theaters have been offered is the first "Top Gun" movie).
Though theater owners are desperate to play on their screens, they also know that agreeing to show these titles will not bring in much revenue.
"Especially seeing that most of these titles you can watch at home already," said one theater owner.
Playing movies by local filmmakers.
With film festivals also having to be canceled due to the coronavirus, there are independent filmmakers who want to get their work shown on the big screen.
Vannorsdel of Fridley Theatres said that he's in talks with at least one filmmaker about doing a run.
"Seeing we have screen space we might be able to play it on three, four, maybe five screens," he said.
Driven to come back stronger than ever.
Seeing that guidelines and decisions about how to combat the coronavirus are updated and tweaked it seems hourly, many of the above ideas could become unrealistic in the coming days and weeks. Frankly, it's a scary time for the movie theater industry and many might not be able to reopen.
And with Universal's decision to go day-and-date, it could spark more studios to do the same. Which makes theaters less relevant going forward.
But many are staying optimistic and gearing up for big business when everything goes back to normal.
"I'm oddly energized by this," Bill Barstow, owner of Omaha-based Main Street Theatres told Insider. "I love being told I can't do something."
Main Street Theatres continues to keep its doors open, and though Barstow knows that what's going on now will hurt his bottom line (regardless if he has to close up or not), he's very confident his company will come out the other end to show movies another day. And to a full house.
"I think we have enough cash to get through this," he said. "I can't wait to prove everybody wrong."
Some of the largest and most popular movie theaters have closed.
As of Tuesday, huge chains like Regal and AMC Theatres have closed its doors due to the CDC's most recent guidelines of public gatherings being no bigger than 10 people.
The popular chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema also has closed its 41 locations across the country.
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