Cineworld breaking news

[Martin Brooks]

While the forced closings in NYC and Los Angeles may have seemed overkill, NYC is currently facing a large rise in infections and that's with movie theaters still closed. The 7-day moving average of daily new cases in all of New York State was 684 on August 25th and it's now back up to 1447 with more than a third of those cases in NYC.

California is down to its post-peak lows, but that's still about 3200 new cases per day.

I would argue (but I'm not a doctor or pandemic specialist) that outdoor stadiums could have opened if everyone wore masks and they used every third seat and at least every other row in a checkerboard pattern. I'm less sure about movie theaters doing the same thing. While one is facing away from other people's mouths, it's indoors in the same place for three hours. And now that it's getting cooler in the north, the AC wouldn't be operating in most theaters, although if the AC was only recirculating indoor air, that would not have been a good thing either. I keep asking myself if theaters had been permitted to reopen, would I personally go and as much as I miss the theater, I don't think I would have with the current rise in infections. I might have when the infection rate in all of NYC was down to below 300 per day.

[Mike Blakesley]

I'm not so sure if "everyone masking up" would work anyway. My wife spends some time in Billings, where she says virtually everyone you see is wearing masks. They are STILL spiking there.

I think what's happening is, people are gathering in groups "in private" and taking their masks off, and that's where it's happening. I know around here, in the early "lockdown" weeks, people I know were still going to friends houses to get together on the sly.

Then there's the problem of what happens when it subsides. All it takes is one new person infecting people and the whole mess starts over again.

The movie industry is a huge worry because now people are starting to hear that the theaters "may close forever," which is bad public perception.... I fear we're only a short jump from "WILL close forever" and once the public gets into that mind-set, we are really and truly screwed, especially when you toss in the studios withholding product for no good reason. I hope I'm wrong, but as Commander Solo said, "I have a bad feeling about this."

[Kenneth Wuepper]

Public perception is a very complicated thing. When a power supply failed and the theatre was dark until a replacement was obtained, the owner put a sign in the front door. "Closed for technical problem"

I immediately took it down and replaced it with "Cancelled performance for temporary technical problem"

In the short time that the first sign was our there we got a call inquiring if we were really closed. As in permanently.

Careful avoidance of triggering words is essential in preventing deadly rumors.

[Mike Blakesley]

Our previous owner here (my former boss) closed to do some indoor painting one time, and he put "CLOSED FOR RENOVATION" on the marquee. Some people thought it said "Closed for Reno vacation."

If we are EVER closed for any reason I always put up a sign saying when we'll be open. Even during the virus closure we always had "see you soon" or "opening soon" or whatever on the marquee.

[Leo Enticknap]

Many years ago, the shutter gearbox on a Vic 5 suddenly and completely failed. I explained to the manager that the screen would be down until we got a new one. A few hours later, a co-worker told me to call the recorded info line if I wanted a giggle. I did, and heard the following:

"...we have shows of Bringing Out the Dead at 12.30, 3.00, 5.30 and 8 'O Clock, American Beauty at 1 'O Clock, 3,30, 6.00 and 8.30, and ...."

Muffled voice in background: "Nothing in 3! The projector's buggered!"

Manager: "...err, and, err, ticket prices are..."