Los Angeles theaters could reopen early next week, public health officials said on Thursday. The announcement marks almost a year without cinemas in the world capital of cinema and is welcome news for the exhibition industry, which has been struggling for the past twelve months since COVID-19 changed its daily life.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced on Thursday that cinemas will be able to reopen at 25% capacity sometime between Monday and Wednesday of next week.
Last week, New York cinemas were able to reopen with reduced capacity.
In Los Angeles, the county was waiting for the state to distribute two million doses of vaccines to underprivileged populations, a key factor in the state’s reopening structure. Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Wednesday that California would reach the vaccine milestone on Friday, meaning that counties could move to the “red level” if they had less than 10 new cases per day for every 100,000 people.
Because of the short term, most cinemas will not be able to return to business immediately. The main circuits of the theater believe that their facilities will not be operational until Friday, March 19, because they need more time to hire employees back and implement safety and cleaning protocols. Theaters also say that operating with limited capacity makes it difficult to make a profit, although many cinemas are happy to have a business after almost a year without revenue.
According to county rules, theaters must have reserved seats and groups must be separated by at least six feet in all directions.
The county is also relaxing the rules for several other retail outlets that are shifting to the red level. Most notably, restaurants will be able to reopen for internal service, with a 25% capacity limit.
Dining indoors has been one of the most difficult issues in the reopening process, as health officials continue to fear that inadequate ventilation could allow the virus to spread. County rules require that tables be placed two and a half meters apart and that only a family with a maximum of six people can sit at each table indoors. The rules also require that restaurants increase ventilation as much as possible and that air conditioning systems be checked.
Museums, zoos and aquariums can also open at 25% capacity. Gyms, fitness centers, yoga studios and dance studios can open at 10% capacity, as long as everyone wears a mask indoors.
With more urban centers like Los Angeles and New York easing restrictions on theaters, studios may feel more encouraged to release supporting films. After the release of COVID-19, many studios delayed their biggest releases. This meant that when cinemas were able to reopen, they often had little to play.