A view of the Regal Loews Cinemas in Times Square in New York City.
Noam Galai | Getty Images
After nearly a year of closure, New York cinemas will be able to open on March 5, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.
City cinemas will be allowed to operate at 25% capacity, in accordance with current regulations for locations in the rest of New York State.
The movie theater announcement follows a recent series of moves the governor has made in recent weeks to reopen the state’s economy. New York City’s big venues, such as the Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden, are gearing up to welcome a limited number of fans to live basketball games starting Tuesday.
Last week, Cuomo said that indoor family entertainment centers, such as arcades, elastic parks and laser-labeled facilities, could reopen from March 26 and that amusement parks in the will be able to return on April 9 with limited capacity.
“Governor Cuomo’s announcement that cinemas may reopen in New York City in the first week of March is another important step toward the recovery of the health of the film industry and our company.” , said Adam Aron, CEO of AMC, in a statement.
Aron said the company will reopen its 13 New York City theaters on March 5th.
It should be noted that March 5 also marks the day that Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” will be available in theaters and Lionsgate’s Disney + and “Chaos Walking” hit theaters. Later in March, Warner Bros. ‘”Godzilla v. Kong” will also debut.
Masks are needed
“New York movie theaters will adapt to the rest of the state: 25% capacity; no more than 50 people per screening; masks; assigned seats; social distancing; staff to control employment, traffic and seats to ensure compliance, “Cuomo said. “They need the improved standards for filtration, ventilation and air purification that DOH has specified.”
Cuomo has repeatedly said the state has seen the coronavirus peak end after the holidays, while warning of the emergence of highly contagious virus strains, such as strain B.1.1.7 first identified in the UK, which can derail the progress of the state and reverse its downward trend in cases.
New York reports a weekly average of 7,400 cases of Covid-19 on a daily basis, a drop of more than 13% from a week ago and the lowest state average since early December, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
“Theater owners are pleased with the announcement that New York cinemas will be able to reopen safely,” the National Association of Theater Owners said in a statement. “Strict voluntary health and safety protocols have allowed cinemas across the country to operate safely and responsibly with higher capacity limits for many months without a single outbreak of COVID-19 being found in cinemas “.
“New York City is a major market for cinemas in the United States; its reopening gives film distributors confidence in setting and celebrating their movie release dates, and is an important step in industry-wide recovery, ”said the group, which represents more than 33,000 movie screens in the U.S.
A key market
New York City is a vital hub for movie ticket sales. There are about 300 cinemas in New York State, but the key geographic metric that analysts focus on is New York’s designated market area, or DMA.
This is an area surrounding New York City that includes part of Connecticut and New Jersey and excludes cinemas north of Albany and west of Cooperstown. Within this DMA there are 234 cinemas representing 7.4% of the total national box office, according to Comscore.
This is the second highest ticketing engine in the United States, just behind the Los Angeles DMA, which accounts for 8.9%.
New York City has above-average prices and population density, which means it generates more money for industry than other areas of the United States and Canada. This is one of the reasons why studios have wanted to push films along the calendar and wait for New York cinemas to reopen to the public.
The city also had a massive advertising penetration. Movies that work well in the city generate novelties that help sell tickets in other parts of the country.
Not to mention, New York City is of symbolic importance because it is one of the places where there is a large concentration of Hollywood producers, directors and actors in the area.