Boxoffice Pro Fall 2020

Industry TRENDS
this is what moviegoers want—we know
that because they told us—and we will be
enforcing it very carefully. We will not let
people into our theaters if they don’t wear
masks. We will not let them stay in our
theaters if they don’t keep their masks on,
except for those few minutes when they’re
sipping on their [soda] or eating their
buttered and salted popcorn.”
Mask enforcement has been a
recurring concern for moviegoers and
industry observers waiting to go back
to the movies. Mark Zoradi, CEO of
Cinemark Theatres, which was among
the first major circuits to open select
locations across the country, noted that
mask enforcement has been a “small or
nonexistent issue” at his circuit thus far.
“The vast majority of people are showing
up with their masks,” he said. “We have
very good signage on our website, our
app’s ticketing function, and at the door
that they’re required. All our employees
are wearing them,” he said. “For the very
few [patrons] that show up that don’t
have them, we’re offering a mask for free
and explaining the situation. There has
been very little pushback on it. In the
isolated case or two that we’ve had, we’ve
just explained the situation and offered
a refund. It’s notable there have been no
incidents at 60 of our theaters in multiple
states. I think the word is out that this is
the policy with other national retailers,
from Target to Costco. I think the consumer
understands the situation at this point:
If they’re going to go into a public retail
environment, masks are required.”
According to Dr. Sanchez, distancing
between seats, required mask wearing
(while minimizing the time spent
consuming concessions), and fewer
interactions with staff, other patrons, and
high-touch surfaces can help decrease the
risk of moviegoing during the pandemic.
She also believes that assessing one’s own
local environment is crucial when making
the decision to return to the movies: Is the
pandemic in the area under control? Or is
there a rise in cases?
“Some of the factors we think about
are the environment, the person and the
behavior they’re engaged in, and the
virus,” she said. “The virus is the same;
that variable is fixed. One community may
have higher levels of virus transmission
than others, but for the most part the
way the virus behaves is the same. Then
we look at the behavior that people are
engaging in, and when we think about
bars, we think about people coming
together, drinking alcohol or nonalcoholic
beverages, but coming together and
speaking without wearing masks for the
majority of the time that they’re there.
In restaurants, the situation is similar
when people are coming together in an
enclosed environment mostly without
masks, because the primary purpose
of a restaurant is to consume food and
beverages. Now, when we think about
a movie theater, that same contained
environment [is the same] as a place of
worship or as a restaurant, that doesn’t
change, but the behavior is different.
People, for the most part, are going to be
wearing masks. People are not speaking,
they are not singing, doing the types of
activities that propel respiratory droplets.”
Cineworld and Regal CEO Mooky
Greidinger backed the doctor’s observations,
noting that cinemas are unique among
indoor communal activities. “We all need
to remember that in the cinema you sit
in one place, everybody is looking in the
same direction, there is almost no talking.
There is almost no movement through the
running time of the movie.”
The press conference served, in part, as
a response to the ongoing lack of a time
frame or guidelines for cinemas to reopen
in the state of New York, home to the
most lucrative market in the country. In a
press briefing, New York governor Andrew
Cuomo deemed cinemas to be “less
essential” than gyms or bowling alleys,
defending his stance by questioning the
circulation of air in cinemas.
“I noticed that Governor Cuomo in New
York recently said that movie theaters have
just one air-conditioning system,” said
Fithian. “Obviously, we are hoping to correct
him on the facts, because there are multiple
systems. Often a six-plex will have eight
different air-conditioning systems. The idea
that Covid would flow from one auditorium
to the next is just not based on fact.”
“I’ve seen a lot of publications that seem
to think our systems are taking air from
one screen and putting it in another, or
the circulation is going from one screen to
another. Most of the cinemas in the world,
their systems are independent between
each screen. This is also very important to
understand,” reiterated Greidinger.
Despite these challenges, the
executives participating in the press
conference expressed faith that they
could recapture consumer confidence
in the United States with help from
the CinemaSafe guidelines. In other
countries, where cinemas have been
open since as early as June, admissions
figures fluctuated largely due to the lack
of new Hollywood releases. In some cases,
titles outperformed even pre-pandemic
expectations, but a real measure of the
audience’s appetite for moviegoing will
likely occur over time, as more audiences
feel comfortable returning to theaters.
Cineworld’s Greidinger nevertheless
has faith in the industry’s resiliency to see
it through this crisis, regardless of how
long it takes. “We need to remember our
industry is more than 120 years old,” he
said. “This industry has passed through
wars, revolutions, recessions … this is not
the first pandemic in our history.”
“People, for the most part, are
going to be wearing masks.
People are not speaking, they
are not singing, doing the
types of activities that propel
respiratory droplets.”
20 Fall 2020
18-20_CinemaSafe.indd 20 29/09/2020 12:32