After almost a full year closed, theaters are reopening in New York City. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the decision during a press event on Monday that theaters will be permitted to reopen on March 5, albeit with strict restrictions in place.
New York City is the country’s second-largest moviegoing market behind Los Angeles and is crucial if studios hope to begin to recover from the pandemic. the National Association of Theatre Owners responded stating,
“Theater owners are pleased with the announcement that New York City movie theaters will be allowed to safely re-open. Stringent voluntary health and safety protocols have made it possible for cinemas across the country to operate safely and responsibly at higher capacity limits for many months without a single outbreak of COVID-19 being traced to movie theaters,”
“New York City is a major market for moviegoing in the U.S.; re-opening there gives confidence to film distributors in setting and holding their theatrical release dates, and is an important step in the recovery of the entire industry,”
“We look forward to expanding the capacity from 25 percent to 50 percent in the very near future so that theaters can operate profitably.”
In a statement, AMC CEO Adam Aron said that all 13 of its New York City locations will open on March 5, including AMC Empire 25, the largest cinema in the country.
“Governor Cuomo’s announcement that movie theaters can reopen in New YorkCity inthe first week of March is another important step towards restoring the health of the movie theatre industry and of our company,”
Some movie theaters just outside of New York City were allowed to reopen last fall, although some were forced to shut down again because of a surge in cases.
