International circuit switches theatrical lights back on

Brandon Blake- Entertainment Lawyer

 After 7 months of dark screens, this week we see both the UK and France give their theatrical industry the green light to open up. BLAKE & WANG P.A takes a look at this exciting step forward in recovery.

Currently, England, Scotland, And Wales have been allowed to resume showings from Monday, May 17th. France followed with a Wednesday 19th reopening. England maintains a 50% capacity restriction, but there’s been a little issue with this figure. Stats suggest 20% occupancy figures will provide a fairly normal day-to-day run, especially with many workers still working from home and able to use flexi-time to choose showings. When cinemas were allowed to reopen for a period last year, the 50% capacity limit did not cause issues. France, meanwhile, has opted for 35% capacity, rising to 65% when in-person dining resumes on 9th June.

This positions both markets to shuffle Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, the precursor to which netted over $54M in 2018, to prominence on their big screens. Vue has announced it will be reopening all of its UK sites (88 in total), with the hope that Irish sites can reopen in early June. 

Cineworld, which also operated 128 British sites, opted to delay firing up their screens until midweek, but are equally optimistic about the process. LIkewise, capacity restrictions are seen as no problem for the chain. 

Greenlit UK cinemas will be operating under similar safety protocols to those put in place during the reopening last year. Unlike many areas of the U.S as they first reopened, concessions will also be available to moviegoers in the UK. France still has them vetoed. 

How will audiences support the newly reopened fixtures? Providing cinemas can keep a steady supply of appealing content, it looks like the European public are as keen as the US to get back to the entertainment business. BLAKE & WANG P.A wishes them the very best as we go forward.

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