What happened to Cineplex during Covid?
SilverCity Representitive: Manager
The second theatre I got to interview was Cineplex; SilverCity, one of the biggest theatre companies in the world. I was able to get a chance to speak with the manager about Cineplex's actions and affects with Covid. When the province went into lockdown, Cineplex was obviously hit hard with the low (unknown) rate of revenue generated. Cineplex was still generating some revenue with their online app, in which one could buy or rent movies on their handheld screens or even televisions. Eventually, Silvercity made it's way to UberEats as a restaurant where they would sell their normal items in the concession stands along with the items in the other restaurant kiosks in the theatre (such as PizzaPizza, Yogen Früz, etc). Since theatres were closed for over a full year, employees weren't supported throughout the pandemic and were actually laid off in the beginning of March 2020's lockdwon. When the restrictions were lifted and movie theatres finally reopened, Cineplex theatres saw a growth in the younger age group's attendance as opposed to older age groups, who were more reluctant, cautious, and worried to come back.
As Cineplex is bouncing back onto a routine of what they used to be, the box office was decently affected,. The manager of Silvercity confirms that theatres are currently in the mid-tier of what the theatres used to be, prior to the pandemic. Despite the fact that Cineplex theatres haven't made any major price changes and theatres are running at 100% capacity, some of the highest anticipated movies of 2021 such as House of Gucci, Shang-Chi, (etc) were not hitting the same heights that they had the potential to hit due to the pandemic. Even 'Spiderman: No Way Home' could have been expected to hit higher numbers in the box office if it weren't for the affects of the pandemic.
As people start to feel safer coming back to the theatres, Cineplex is taking major precautions to ensure safety. When theatres first reopened, Cineplex closed off the three adjacent seats to a party's selected seats. However, as time went and restrictions were lifted, Cineplex started counting backwards, working their way from three seats closed off to two, to one, to none. It may scare some individuals to come back to the theatre with no distanced seating, however the manager assures that the staff is taking major safety precautions, including the following; cleaning the lobby every half hour, installing multiple santizing stations, and deep cleaning theatres after every show. The representetives at Cineplex are making it clear that they're primary goal is to make people feel safe as they follow Ontario regulations and are taking whatever precautions necessary to ensure safety and welcome back movie go-ers.
The manager at Silvercity was confident in saying that it would take until summer '22 to recover financially, without the consideration of the new Omicron variant. If the world were to go into another lockdown, representitives at Cineplex state that they are unsure of how they would be able to survive it and it would be difficult. However, as movie theatres are seen as a dying industry due to presence of streaming services such as Netflix, Cineplex representetives are confident that they will survive and oppose the statement that theatres are 'dying out'. Cineplex is always finding ways to compete with streaming services, such as starting partnerships (UberEats), special events, sporting events, etc. Cineplex representitives are confident that they will survive the pandemic and hope for the best.
What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Nice article 👍, it was interesting to learn how Covid affected the
movie industry.