New York and Los Angeles cinemas may be shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, but they remain open across much of the rest of the United States where the big chains recently instituted seating restrictions limiting theaters to a maximum capacity of 250 people to meet State-instituted guidelines.
Now, North America’s largest theater chain AMC Theatres is going even further than capping occupancy at 50%. Instead, they are instituting a new ’50-50′ policy which says each screening will either be 50% occupied maximum or have a total of 50 people allowed, whichever is lower.
That means for cinemas under 100 seats, those will only be filled to 50% capacity. For cinemas over 100 seats, there will be no more than 50 seats occupied in the auditorium – that includes major stadium seated movies.
This new rule is reportedly set to take effect immediately and run until April 30th at least. AMC is aiming to keep its doors at a time when many businesses are temporarily closing including bars, gyms, restaurants, nightclubs and other service-based businesses.
It also begs the obvious question of whether the few remaining films slated to open next month – “Trolls World Tour,” “Saint Maud” and “My Spy” – will want to go ahead if so many screens are going to be extremely limited or even likely closed by the time they are supposed to be released.
Source: THR
