Eight Toronto theatres among the Cineplex locations to reopen July 31 with new safety measures in place
Samuel Engelking
Cineplex's Scotiabank Theatre on Richmond Street.
Cineplex is reopening 25 of its Ontario theatres, including eight locations in Toronto, on July 31 – the same day Toronto officially moves into Stage 3.
“The company is taking a phased approach to reopening and anticipates that the majority of its locations will reopen over the next several weeks, including its 43 other theatres across Ontario,” the company said in a release.
“All theatres will open with enhanced safety and cleaning measures as well as updated procedures to allow for physical distancing both inside and outside auditoriums.”
The new safety measures include rolling out reserved seating, reduced capacity, limiting food offerings to “core concessions” including popcorn, and closing VIP cinemas and play structures closed. Masks must additionally be worn indoors in jurisdictions where indoor mask-wearing is mandated.
The Canadian theatre giant laid off 130 employees earlier this month, with management initially saying the chain was “not in a position” to reopen after much of the province was given the go-ahead to move into Stage 3. The company is also suing its would-be buyer, Cineworld, over a failed takeover this month.
Here are the Cineplex locations taking part in the first wave of reopening:
Visit the Cineplex website for more information.
You really should use a photo of a theatre which is actually opening. I assumed the Scotia was open until I read all the way down.
They announced $5 movie tickets, so I went to the Cineplex website to check out their pandemic safety precautions. Cleaning, social-distancing, Symptom Free Policy (lol), reduced food offerings, etc. etc. Masks? “we are recommending that our guests wear a mask”… Gee, that’ll be effective advice for people eating popcorn and drinking pop.
“Guests are required to sit in their reserved seat for the duration of the movie,” I guess you can’t go to pee or to get more drinks?
Sorry, even if I reserve centre-of-the-row seats and get seated early, this doesn’t sound to me like a safe place to spend a couple of hours.