A view of the Regal Loews Cinemas in New York’s Times Square.
Noam Galai | Getty Images
After nearly a year of closures, New York cinemas will be allowed to open on March 5, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.
Cinemas in the city will be allowed to operate at a capacity of 25%, in accordance with current rules for locations in the rest of New York State.
The announcement of the cinema follows a recent series of moves that the governor has made in recent weeks to reopen the state’s economy. New York’s big arenas, such as Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden, are gearing up to receive a limited number of fans for live basketball games starting Tuesday.
Last week, Cuomo said indoor family entertainment centers, such as arcades, trampoline parks and laser-tagged facilities, could reopen on March 26, and outdoor amusement parks could return to limited capacity on April 9th.
In particular, March 5 also marks the day Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” becomes available in theaters and Disney + and Lionsgate’s “Chaos Walking” enter theaters. Later in March, Warner Bros. “Godzilla v. Kong” will also make its debut.
Masks are needed
“New York cinemas will be aligned with the rest of the state: 25% capacity; no more than 50 people per screening; masks; allocated places; social distancing; personnel for occupancy control, traffic and places to ensure compliance, ”Cuomo said. “They need the improved standards for filtration, ventilation and air purification that the DOH has specified.”
Cuomo has repeatedly said that the state has seen the end of the post-holiday coronavirus peak, while warning of the emergence of highly contagious virus strains, such as strain B.1.1.7 first identified in the UK, could derail the state’s progress, and reverse downward trend in cases.
New York reports a weekly average of 7,400 Covid-19 cases a day, a drop of more than 13% from a week ago and the lowest state average since early December, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns University Hopkins.
“Theater owners are pleased to announce that cinemas in New York will be allowed to reopen safely,” the National Association of Theater Owners said in a statement. “Strict voluntary health and safety protocols have made it possible for cinemas across the country to operate safely and responsibly at higher capacity limits for several months, without a single outbreak of COVID-19 being tracked in cinemas. ”
“New York City is a major market for US films; reopening there gives film distributors confidence in establishing and maintaining their release dates in cinemas and is an important step in the recovery of the entire industry,” said the group, which represents more than 33,000 movie screens in the US
A key market
New York City is a vital center for movie ticket sales. There are nearly 300 cinemas in New York State, but the key geographic metric that analysts focus on is the designated New York market area or DMA.
This is an area around New York City that includes part of Connecticut and New Jersey and excludes cinemas north of Albany and west of Cooperstown. Within this DMA there are 234 cinemas which represent 7.4% of the total internal box office, according to Comscore.
This is the second largest ticket sales driver in the US, just behind the Los Angeles DMA, which is 8.9%.
New York City has higher ticket prices and population density, which means it generates more money for industry than other areas in the United States and Canada. This is one of the reasons why the studios were eager to push the films along the calendar and wait for the theaters in New York to reopen to the public.
The city also had a massive advertising penetration. Movies that work well in the city generate news that helps sell tickets in other parts of the country.
Not to mention, New York City is symbolically important, as it is one of the places where there is a large concentration of Hollywood producers, directors and actors living in the area.