Movie theater chains with locations in South Puget Sound announce Friday reopenings
Cinemark Theaters in Washington are set to reopen Friday, Oct. 16 after a lengthy closure due to COVID-19.
The Century Point Ruston and XD in Tacoma and Century Federal Way and XD in Federal Way will be among the first to reopen.
Audiences will be capped at 25 percent capacity in counties, such as Pierce County, currently in Phase 2. Phase 3 counties will be limited to 50-percent capacity.
In an emailed statement, Cinemark said there would be mask requirements for all attending and that they must be worn at all times except when consuming concessions.
There also will be strict social distancing requirements in auditoriums and increased sanitizing following each showing.
AMC, the largest theater chain in the United States, also announced it would be opening Friday. AMC Lakewood Mall 12 will be among the theaters opening and will be following its own safety rules, including a mask mandate when not eating.
The move comes after Gov. Jay Inslee relaxed restrictions on movie theaters and other businesses last week.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department released a statement following the governor’s announcement urging continued caution:
“Modified Safe Start guidelines the governor announced today for movie theaters, restaurants and other industries do not change the vigilance we need in Pierce County. Our COVID-19 case rates have been rising recently, and we need everyone to help bring them back down.”
On Monday, Pierce County reported 32 cases, making for 813 cases in the past 14 days.
Some health experts have raised concerns about the safety of returning too soon to theaters. In an interview with The New York Times, Dr. Diana Cervantes, an expert in infection prevention and control, said, “You’re not going to catch me at a theater any time soon.”
“When you think of what aids transmission, it is going to be the type of contact you have with the person who’s infected, the length of time, proximity — all of those factors come into play,” Cervantes said. “The amount of time starts to be a little too prolonged for me to be sitting there with a bunch of strangers.”
There also are concerns over whether audiences will return in large enough numbers, following tepid returns for blockbuster “Tenet,” to justify the decision to reopen.
That is top of mind for Philip Cowan, executive director for Tacoma’s independent theater The Grand Cinema, who said it will not be opening Friday.
The Grand closed its doors in March and furloughed all its employees. The news of other theaters reopening was a surprise to Cowan.
“I didn’t know that anybody was pulling the trigger yet,” Cowan said when reached by phone.
Before The Grand would reopen, Cowan said, he wants to know from people whether they would be interested in returning.
“I need to know what people are thinking really as to whether it makes sense,” Cowan said. “I’m not even sure 25 percent would even show up.
“If people would be coming back, we’ll try to make it work.”
The other pressing question would be what programming the theater would show as much of the year’s releases have been pushed back.
“Obviously, we’re not going to be opening up this Friday, but if we were, I don’t have any idea of what films we would be showing,” Cowan said. “Until we get to about Thanksgiving, this is assuming films keep their release schedule which those always keep changing, there is really not a whole lot of big films between now and then.
“We’re going to evaluate data. Maybe by the end of this week or certainly by next Monday I will have a feel.”
As for the other theater chains in Washington, some Regal Cinemas briefly opened in July. On Oct. 8, it was announced that all Regal Cinemas would close indefinitely.
This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 4:29 PM.
