Odeon has grow to be the newest cinema chain to say it’s going to reopen on 17 May following months of lockdown closures.
Following the same announcement from Cineworld, Odeon mentioned it will open most of its 120 UK websites with new safety measures in place.
The trade has been hit exhausting by Covid and Odeon’s proprietor AMC warned final month it was working out of money.
“We’ve all missed the magic that the cinema brings to movie watching,” mentioned Odeon managing director Carol Welch.
The chain – Britain’s largest – mentioned it will be reopening the “vast majority” of its websites, together with flagship cinemas at London’s Leicester Square, Manchester’s Trafford Centre and Birmingham’s Broadway Plaza.
The firm hopes movie followers will flock again to cinemas to see host of new 2021 movie releases, together with Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, Fast & Furious 9, Marvel’s Black Widow and the long-awaited Bond film No Time to Die.
The chain may even display screen Oscar-winning movies which have been supplied at no additional cost on screening companies, akin to Sound Of Metal (Amazon Prime) and Nomadland (Disney+).
Cineworld – which has round 100 websites – will mark its reopening with a new deal with Warner Bros to present movies in theatres earlier than they’re streamed. Godzilla vs. Kong would be the first movie to make its UK debut on Cineworld screens as a part of the deal.
The new cinema expertise
At Odeon cinemas seats will probably be restricted, guaranteeing unoccupied seats between events to meet social distancing necessities.
Visitors will probably be anticipated to put on face masks however will probably be allowed to take away them in auditoriums when consuming or consuming.
Meanwhile, present begin occasions will probably be staggered to scale back queues and the cinemas not settle for money, which implies solely contactless cost is accepted and cinemagoers are suggested to pre-book seats on-line.
The cinema trade has been one of many worst hit sectors through the pandemic with many screens closed for prolonged durations or working at decreased capability.
Global field workplace takings in 2020 fell by greater than 70% from the earlier yr to $12.4bn, in accordance to movie expertise agency Gower Street Analytics.
Major releases have been delayed due to Covid, together with the newest James Bond movie, No Time to Die, which was postpone quite a few occasions. It will now debut globally on 8 October however had initially been due to hit screens in April 2020.
The much-anticipated sci-fi film Dune, starring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya, was initially slated to be launched in December 2020 however is now set to seem at cinemas in October.
In December, Odeon’s US proprietor, AMC Entertainment Holdings, had to increase $100m (£76m) in emergency funds after warning it was working out of money.
It mentioned it was burning by way of $125m a month as considerations about Covid-19 shut some cinemas and stored audiences away.
The agency mentioned attendance has dropped 92% within the US and 86% internationally.
