It has been no secret that movie theaters have been looking at the dates of new releases to determine when to open their doors again after they were forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After Tenet and Mulan shifted their release dates to August, AMC made the decision to delay the reopening of their theaters until July 30. The original date was slated to be on July 15.
On the new date, the Leawood, KS-based chain will resume operations of 450 U.S. theatres as part of its phased plan to bring its 600-plus multiplexes back online by early August. AMC has been shuttered nationwide since mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. AMC CEO and President, Adam Aron, had this to say about making the change:
“We continue to devote extraordinary resources into our plan to operate our theatres with a hyper commitment to the safety and health of our guests and associates, notably in the United States through our new AMC Safe & Clean initiative. Our theatre general managers across the U.S. started working full time again today and are back in their theatres gearing up to get their buildings fully ready just a few weeks from now for moviegoers. That happy day, when we can welcome guests back into most of our U.S. theatres, will be Thursday, July 30.”
Thursday night and Friday of last week so a slew of release date changes including Tenet shifting off of July 31 and moving to August 12 while Mulan, originally slated for July 24 after vacating its March release date, moved to August 21. Other movements on the schedule included Bill & Ted Face The Music shifting to August 28, the same weekend as The New Mutants and Unhinged, which was set to launch July 10 and will now open July 31 now that Tenet has moved off of the date. Movie theaters in Los Angeles County and New York City have yet to reopen and it was announced yesterday that Los Angeles County was putting a pause on giving the go-ahead for theaters to reopen due to spikes in the area while New York City hasn’t included movie theaters to open in their Phase 4 plan. Studios need these markets to be available because they are the two biggest box office markets in the States and if they aren’t going to be open before some of these films are aiming to be released, I wouldn’t be surprised if these movies shift again which could make theaters like AMC, Regal or Cinemark shift their opening dates as well.
