Cinemark Theaters will not require moviegoers to wear masks when things get back to normal. Mark Zoradi is now the CEO of the major movie company and he relayed the news on a first-quarter conference call. There is no question that the coronavirus pandemic flipped the entertainment landscape upside down. Coming off of one of the best years for theaters in the last decade, studios were primed for another big summer. But, as the reality of the health emergency settled in, it became clear that most of the biggest releases would have to either slide to next year or hope that the end of the year would bring some relief. With things trending in a better direction, some hoped the end of summer could lead to some hope for 2020.
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“The reality is I don’t think we’re going to be able to get into a full-on rhythm again of product cycles and all that we had prior to COVID-19 until 2022,” Zorandi told Wall Street analysts on that earnings call. “That’s more production-related than our operation-related because as studios have had to adapt to not being able to do filming and do post-production, they’ve had to move their schedules. Therefore, we’re going to adapt as well.”
He’s banking on 2021 being a recovery year as people file back into theaters. July is supposed to mark the release of Tenet this year, and that moment will serve as a litmus test for how much further the movie business has to go. The Cinemark CEO sounded hopeful about the prospect of Christopher Nolan’s latest hitting theaters on the call.
“We’ve been in close contact with Warner Bros. and they remain optimistic and positive as well as Christopher Nolan about the July 17th opening,” Zoradi said of the Tenet release. “Of course, it depends on the continued positive movement due to the decline of COVID-19 and government restrictions being reduced.”
In an earlier statement when theaters closed, Zoradi said, “Through these absolutely unprecedented and evolving times, one thing will not change, and that is Cinemark’s dedication to its team members and moviegoers. The decision to close our U.S. theatres was incredibly tough, but we know it is the right thing to do as global Coronavirus concerns continue to escalate. We will closely monitor recommendations of national and local governmental health organizations and look forward to inviting everyone to once again enjoy experiencing the movies with Cinemark.”
Will you be seeing Tenet in theaters when it opens? Let us know in the comments!
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