16:17 PST 3/11/2021
in
Pamela McClintock
County officials gave their approval on Thursday.
Los Angeles theaters were cleared to reopen next week, although capacity is limited to 25 percent.
The county’s Department of Public Health said on Thursday that cinemas, along with a few other companies, could welcome customers back in the next few days.
The announcement came several days later, according to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s reopening plan, the county has moved from the purple layer to the less restrictive red layer after the number of COVID-19 cases has decreased, meaning that cinemas may reopen until March 19 -21 weekend.
Los Angeles, along with New York City – where cinemas reopened last weekend – are the key to any box office recovery.
As soon as theaters in New York and Los Angeles are back in operation, film distributors will begin to feel comfortable launching their big budget tents. However, the studios will want to see the capacity grow to 50%.
Los Angeles’ largest market provided nearly 9 percent of all box office revenue in 2019, while the New York DMA yielded 7.4 percent.
Currently, about 45% to 46% of North American cinemas are operational, according to Comscore.