Cinemark has decided to become the first major theater chain in the US to step forward with a definitive reopening plan. The good news is that the chain expects to reopen in time for the summer. The bad news is that it won’t be in June and when the chain does open its doors again, it’s going to take some time before new films hit the screen.
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In a new Deadline report, Cinemark executives spoke to investors about the company’s plan to reopen beginning on July 1, with employees coming back in mid-June. According to CFO and COO Sean Gamble, Cinemark won’t open its doors and encourage packed houses with brand-new films. Instead, the chain is taking a more reserved approach to reopening. And it won’t be a chain-wide reopen either, with each location following local government regulations.
“We won’t be everything back day 1, but dip our toe approach,” said Gamble.
Cinemark CEO and Board Director Mark Zoradi added the theater chain would be focused on “showing library product, high profile library product” during its first two weeks of operation. This is similar to what China attempted to do when the country initially reopened cinemas last month. That country was set to show films such as “Interstellar,” “Avatar,” and “Avengers: Endgame” to help drive audiences back to theaters. It’s unclear which films might be featured at Cinemark during this period.
And with the showing of “library product,” fans can expect lower ticket prices, as well.
Zoradi said, “We’ll charge less when we start to get people back with high profile library product. We’ll be able to make deals with studio partners prior to the big tentpoles coming.”
Of course, when the theaters do reopen, it’s expected that social distancing guidelines will likely still be in place. And Cinemark plans on following all those regulations, leaving many of its screens at much lower occupancies. But that doesn’t mean that the company will raise ticket prices on new “tentpole” films to help recoup the losses from following social distancing occupancy guidelines.
“I don’t anticipate we’ll charge more for tentpole pictures,” the CEO said.
Interestingly, if this timeline is accurate, the first major “tentpole” that will hit Cinemark screens will be Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” on July 17.
Though we haven’t heard from AMC and other theater chains in the US about how they plan on reopening, it would appear that Cinemark is largely following the guide that we’ve seen in China and recommended elsewhere. So, this is likely the way the majority of cinemas will reopen this summer.