Following the announcement that Regal will be closing their doors until an unspecified time AMC has decided it’s best to follow their lead. AMC theaters will be closing for six to twelve weeks. They own 634 locations in the United States and Canada.
“We are ever so disappointed for our moviegoing guests and for our employee teams that the new CDC guidelines that Americans should not gather in groups larger than 10 people make it impossible to open our theatres,” CEO Adam Aron said in a statement. “Still, the health and wellbeing of AMC guests and employees, and of all Americans, takes precedence above all else. We will continue to monitor this situation very closely and look forward to the day we can again delight moviegoers nationwide by reopening AMC movie theatres in accordance with guidance from the CDC and local health authorities.”
They are doing their due diligence and complying with the CDC as well as making sure that patrons are safe during this uncertain time. They may keep their doors closed longer but that is pretty up in the air right now. Universal has already announced that their movies will be going to Video on Demand services for the big titles. Disney has postponed theatrical release for later dates. And the other movie studios are apt to either follow Universal’s lead or Disney’s and postpone.
It is uncertain if the government at this time will have any kind of relief for these businesses but we hope that they will be ok financially so that we can continue the tradition of seeing movies in theaters if we want.
