It’s showtime for Gig Harbor’s Galaxy Theatres, with Wonder Woman on the marquee
The Gig Harbor Galaxy Theatres are opening Friday to resume showing movies following the recent shift in reopening plans that allowed for Pierce county to move to Phase 2.
Now showing: Wonder Woman 1984.
The multiplex at 4649 Point Fosdick Dr. will reopen Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for now. Fridays will have evening showings; Saturday and Sunday will have matinees as well as evening showings.
All movie-goers must adhere to strict safety guidelines. There will be 25-percent capacity limitations, masks are required at all times except when eating and physical distancing guidelines must be followed.
The prices for shows that begin before 4:00 p.m. are: Adult $9.50, Senior $8.50, Child $8.50 All shows that begin at 4:00 p.m. or later are: Adult $11.25, Senior $8.50, Child $8.50, Student & Military $9.75. There is a $3.50 additional cost for all 3D showings.
Gig Harbor Galaxy Theatre Manager Kim May said they have hired back 20 employees from the previous number of approximately 70 working prior to the theatre temporarily closing.
“I lost a lot of employees from being shut down for a year,” May said. “We brought back everyone that wanted to come back but most of them had found other jobs.”
May said they are able to operate with decreased staff though it has contributed to initial limitations on the days they will be open to start.
“It’s not the only reason but it’s a good reason why we’re only doing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday because we need to build back up the staff,” May said. “We don’t need to build back up to 70 right now because there is not a new movie coming out every week. A lot of the content has been pushed for at least a couple months to give this vaccine time to be distributed to everyone. We probably only need to hire another 10 people for right now so it will probably only take another week or two.”
May said even with a relatively empty release schedule of movies to show there is confidence that moviegoers will return.
“People are desperate to have a release, get out, see a movie, do something,” May said. “Our community has been expressing that they have the desire to come out and see movies. We’ve known that we’re able to safely give an environment to do so, we’ve just been waiting for the okay by the government. As soon as we got that word that we’re allowed to open at that 25 percent capacity we were ready to go.”
Even as the theatre has been given the tenuous go ahead to reopen, health officials have warned that large gatherings that provoke community spread could push Pierce County back to Phase 1 as it is only just meeting the metrics to stay in Phase 2.
“We know it’s a week by week thing. It’s kind of a comfort to the staff that we know at least what we are going into right away. It’s not like I’m telling everyone ‘we’re opening no matter what and we’re not going to close again’ then all of a sudden we close again,” May said. “We just want to do what we’re allowed to safely for our community.”
May said they will always be able to do private rentals even if they go back to Phase 1. Right now they are doing both the rentals and general screenings as well.
The movies being shown starting Friday include Wonder Woman 1984, which had previously been shown on the streaming service HBO Max during the holidays at the same time it was in theatres. The dual release plans were unique and had some concerned it marked a threat to the long-term viability of movie theaters.
CEO Frank Rimkus had previously told The Gateway he was confident the business would overcome any challenges, be it COVID-19 or studios evolving on their distribution of films.
The Gig Harbor location joined other Puget Sound area theatres in opening.
Reach Chase Hutchinson at chase.hutchinson@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 3:54 PM.
