Here's a small glimmer of hope for the possible return of movie theatres after three months of closure due to COVID-19. Independent Victoria theatre — fittingly named the Vic Theatre — is set to reopen its doors this week, officially opening up shop on Friday (June 12).
The cinema will kick off its return with screenings of Michael Winterbottom's The Trip to Greece, the 2017 Dominique Abel film Lost in Paris and the Jeremy Workman documentary The World Before Your Feet.
As CTV reports, the theatre will only allow a maximum of 50 people at a screening. The seats have been spaced out so that moviegoers can sit in groups of two or three but no more than that. Further, tickets and snacks will be purchased ahead of time and placed at the customers' assigned seats.
"We're taking lots of precautions," Kathy Kay, director of both the Victoria Film Festival and the Vic Theatre, told CFAX 1070. "[We're] cleaning regularly between every screening. Chairs will get cleaned and so will the bathrooms."
She added, "If it turns out that people aren't ready to return to the movies we might have to shut down again. But if people come out like they did in the past I think we'll be OK."
This is the first cinema to reopen in Canada, but more are likely to follow suit. Today, Elevation Pictures announced that The Broken Hearts Gallery would open in theatres across Canada on July 10 "provided that government officials have given their approval."
The cinema will kick off its return with screenings of Michael Winterbottom's The Trip to Greece, the 2017 Dominique Abel film Lost in Paris and the Jeremy Workman documentary The World Before Your Feet.
As CTV reports, the theatre will only allow a maximum of 50 people at a screening. The seats have been spaced out so that moviegoers can sit in groups of two or three but no more than that. Further, tickets and snacks will be purchased ahead of time and placed at the customers' assigned seats.
"We're taking lots of precautions," Kathy Kay, director of both the Victoria Film Festival and the Vic Theatre, told CFAX 1070. "[We're] cleaning regularly between every screening. Chairs will get cleaned and so will the bathrooms."
She added, "If it turns out that people aren't ready to return to the movies we might have to shut down again. But if people come out like they did in the past I think we'll be OK."
This is the first cinema to reopen in Canada, but more are likely to follow suit. Today, Elevation Pictures announced that The Broken Hearts Gallery would open in theatres across Canada on July 10 "provided that government officials have given their approval."