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Movies Medicine Entertainment

California To Allow Movie Theaters To Reopen In Most Counties (latimes.com) 50

California counties, including Los Angeles County, could decide to reopen movie theaters as early as Friday. The Los Angeles Times reports: Each local health officer has the authority to decide whether to move forward with relaxing restrictions on reopening theaters. While the state provides guidance on how businesses can reopen, counties decide when they occur. The new rules would limit the number of guests in a movie theater to 25% of theater capacity or a maximum of 100 attendees, whichever is lower. Also, theaters would need to implement a reservation system to limit the number of attendees entering the theater at a time when possible. "Designate arrival times as part of reservations, if possible so that customers arrive at and enter the theater in staggered groups," the state's rules say.

To keep guests six feet away from others, theaters are to close or otherwise remove seats from use, which may require seating every other row or blocking off seats in a checkerboard style, in which no one is sitting directly behind other patrons. The rules would ask patrons to wear face coverings when not eating or drinking. Staff would need to be available to help usher people before the show begins and at its conclusion to reduce crowding when entering or exiting. The guidelines also suggest using disposable or washable seat covers in theaters, "particularly on porous surfaces that are difficult to properly clean. Discard and replace seat covers between each use," the guidelines say.

Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura are among 51 California counties that will be given the option by the state to allow movie theaters to reopen. All but seven of California's 58 counties have filed attestation paperwork to reopen their economies at an accelerated pace. Six of the counties that have not done so are in the San Francisco Bay Area -- Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara -- and the seventh is Imperial County east of San Diego, which is facing a bad outbreak.
Deadline notes that while some independently owned cinemas could open their doors again, "many notable chains won't."

Not only do movie theaters need more time to prep, but many have paused their leases with landlords. "Also, while a 30%-50% capacity auditorium level is doable financially for most theater owners, a 25% cap is stretching it for some," the report adds. "Chains in California we hear aren't reopening Friday include AMC, Regal, Cinemark (which has outlined a three-phase approach beginning June 19 in Dallas), Alamo Drafthouse, Arclight Cinemas, Laemmle, Cinepolis and Landmark."
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California To Allow Movie Theaters To Reopen In Most Counties

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  • Maybe it's just me but all those measures actually sound like an improvement over pre-covid cinema.

    • Indeed.

      Covid-19 has taught us a few things we probably should've already known: doing dishes and cooking at home is just not that much trouble versus ordering & eating in restaurants, waiting a couple weekends to go to the cinema for a hit movie is underrated for the elbow space one gains, and, meeting in large groups of genetically similar life forms is quite often disappointing despite expectations.

      • "Cooking at home". I'm seeing most of the ramen noodles gone from several stores. In addition, pasta and pre-made pasta sauces are being bought a LOT with partially empty shelves remaining.

        This demonstrates a lack of cooking skill IMHO. People seem to have a difficult time feeding themselves anything healthy. Just pre-made stuff .

        • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

          "Cooking at home". I'm seeing most of the ramen noodles gone from several stores. In addition, pasta and pre-made pasta sauces are being bought a LOT with partially empty shelves remaining.

          This demonstrates a lack of cooking skill IMHO. People seem to have a difficult time feeding themselves anything healthy. Just pre-made stuff .

          You don't go from takeout to cooking from scratch overnight. And there's plenty of pre-made that even well known chefs will use - pasta being one of them. Fresh is better, but not

      • I couldn't disagree more. We're eating out every day to support our local restaurants and loving it. We're badly missing going to movie theaters, and we're missing meeting people in real life.
        • You may have an unhealthy co-dependency on others.

        • I couldn't disagree more. We're eating out every day to support our local restaurants and loving it. We're badly missing going to movie theaters, and we're missing meeting people in real life.

          We've done curbside and delivery as much as we could, and everything else being equal, would much rather support our local restaurants daily, like we were able to, pre-outbreak. Unfortunately, there have been multiple cluster covid-19 positives in our local eateries and grocery stores in the last 10 days.

          I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I feel strongly that our nationwide shutdown is going to be off target for several States (including ours) in which the Covid flower has yet to really bloom.

    • by starless ( 60879 )

      Maybe it's just me but all those measures actually sound like an improvement over pre-covid cinema.

      Although they don't go far enough.
      Talking must be punished with very large fines/severe beatings. (Because talking spreads potentially contaminated droplets).
      Noisy popcorn eaters must also be banned. (Because they're a pain in the ass.)

    • An improvement would be if teens would also use masks on their phones so that I can see the fucking movie instead.

  • This makes no sense as written according to the rules if two people are going to the theater together as couple (99% of movie attendees) or a family .. they have to sit apart?

    Idiots shouldn't make rules.

  • I hope they take the time to clean the floors properly. Never been to a theater that my shoes didn't stick to the floors like glue.

    • Good luck getting them to double the staff. I worked at 2 different theaters in my life, and unless it was noon on a weekday, it was a matter of briskly trashing anything big enough to see when the lights are cut, then sprinting to the next theater. And even noon on a weekday, you'd be lucky to find a mop with an in-tact handle and a rolling bucket. I recall being instructed to clean the hot dog rollers by pouring Sprite on them at AMC in 2006. The other one I worked at was a smaller regional chain.

    • It sounds like you live in a pretty horrible place.

  • It is one of a few states that has not shown a decline in cases. While the overall rate of deaths in the US has been cut in half, on average, California still records 100 on some days. If we look at the four states that make up over 1/3 of the population, Ca, Tx, Fl, NY, california is the only state where the infection rate is, on average rising, and the deaths continue to pile up. Yes, Fl is spiking a bit and they may be heading for a disaster as well, but if Ca had the same death rate as Fl, Ca would h
    • and accurate reporting. That said, CA & NY are both major travel & tourist hubs with dense cities, so they're going to take the brunt of any pandemic either way.

      You're right about Musk. This is why we need higher minimum wages. If companies want to move it should be expensive. That way they can't constantly screw us over by threatening to pull jobs.
    • I don’t know where you’re getting your data, but it’s very wrong. CA deaths doesn’t represent 8% of US deaths.

      https://www.cdc.gov/coronaviru... [cdc.gov]

      4,653 deaths in CA is not 8% of 110,925 total US deaths. As of June 9th. And that’s with some states suppressing data.

      • by Octorian ( 14086 )

        And more than half of that is coming from Los Angeles County. Its weird how LA seems to be reopening faster than other parts of CA with MUCH lower infection rates.

      • by fermion ( 181285 )
        Current daily deaths. We are talking about what is happening now. A typical day was 67 deaths in California, 725 deaths in the US. That is around 9%. Some days it is lower, some higher.
    • by quenda ( 644621 )

      It is one of a few states that has not shown a decline in cases.

      Don't worry. Given recent events, that will soon be changing :-(

      • It already is in 12 states.

        Doctors in Texas are now warning the health care system will be overwhelmed if they don't get the rate down.
        But Abbott is ignoring this and probably will until after july 4th.

        So... about 150,000 to 200,000 cases before it closes down again.

        OTH- something odd is going on. While hospitalization is going up- so far death rates are not.

        I'm starting to think something is up. A lot more young people and fewer old people (both need hospitalization but young people just lose toes and g

        • > OTH- something odd is going on. While hospitalization is going up- so far death rates are not.

          We're getting better about keeping people from dying. Many fewer ventilators, IV Vitamin C, anticoagulants â" basically treating this as a blood disease, not just a pneumonia.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • The hypocrisy of the politicians and their reaction to COVID-19 being starkly different than their reaction to the George Floyd protests is easily explained. The only thing that matters here is saving political face and ensuring there is enough PR footage on hand to use during an election year.

        In short, virtue signaling is all that matters here. Before George Floyd, it was all about knee jerk overreactions by politicians, based purely on bogus numbers and bad information, through the imposition of draconian

    • California solidly votes democrat. So Governor Newsome doesn't have the need to totally destroy their economy in the same way as, for example, Governor Northam of Virginia. Who just announced this morning that schools will have staggered schedules for the next year, guaranteeing that working parents can't go back to work. Hopefully he'll lighten up the lockdown after Biden wins in November.

  • but will they when at home is same day for way less?
    Or have movies be CA only and have lots of CAM copies on line for PEOPLE OUT OF STATE where they get $0 per view.

  • Due to the tent pole strategy, movie studios don't really produce nearly so many movies, particularly low budget theatrically released movies, as they once did. A studio might only release 1-2 dozen movies a year altogether, of which maybe half or more are huge, expensive movies like the Marvel or Star Wars types.

    No one is going to want to release them to a theater that at most is half empty, and which may be less well attended than that if people are still (rightly) concerned about getting sick.

    This means

  • I've set foot in my last theater. If other people want to go, good for them, but I never really enjoyed the theater experience all that much anyway. This is enough of a reason for me to skip it altogether.

    • I've set foot in my last theater. If other people want to go, good for them, but I never really enjoyed the theater experience all that much anyway. This is enough of a reason for me to skip it altogether.

      In the list of things I'll take the risk of Wuflu for, a movie theater is at the absolute bottom.

      But I need a haircut so bad I'd lick the floor of the barber shop to get one.

      • But I need a haircut so bad I'd lick the floor of the barber shop to get one.

        My wife cuts my hair and does a damn good job of it. Sometimes she does it in the nude; I tip her and we both get a Happy Ending.

        • I cut my kids' hair. Some YouTube videos have helped me do a pretty respectable job. I might just keep doing it to save money.

          But I won't let my wife get that close to my neck with a sharp instrument.

  • What a flippin' joke the state of California is.
    • by rta ( 559125 )

      I haven't been able to listen to Newsom's pronouncement or any of this health theater stuff for months now. It's like a Twilight Zone episode.

      I fantasize that they'll all be recalled / impeached and thrown in jail for gross abuse of power. So so so stupid

      • Hey, he opened the hair cutting places because it was time for him to get a haircut. He said he was "getting a mujllet".

  • by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Wednesday June 10, 2020 @02:24AM (#60166892) Journal

    I won't go into a theater until they're showing a movie about the virus. I won't go to that movie though. I'll go to something else if there's anything decent playing, so... it's going to be a while.

    Seriously though, If the events of 2020 had been in a script 10 years ago, it might have been rejected as too outlandish. Maybe they will make a movie about this 20 years from now, and the kids will be like, "Naaaahhh, you're frying our pickle", because that's what the kids will be saying then.

  • With face mask and disposable seat, I still feel it's not safe. We can’t guarantee 100% safety from covid 19. After all, the numbers of infected are increasing still.
    • With face mask and disposable seat, I still feel it's not safe. We can't guarantee 100% safety from covid 19. After all, the numbers of infected are increasing still.

      You can't guarantee 100% safety from anything and it's ridiculous to even try. I am in no way a COVID-19 denier, or anti-masker or anything like that. But at some point we're going to have to assume a little bit of risk and get back to some sort of normality. We can't hide in our houses avoiding all human contact forever over the fear of COVID-19.

  • Been following the previews of upcoming movies and quite frankly, most of it look like shite that I have no interest in seeing...

  • Only a moron would go to the movies in the current virus situation. Oh wait, that's the demographic most movies target in the first place.

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