Another interesting development on the part of movie theaters. To catch everyone up, Regal Cinemas and their parent company Cineworld decided to shutter all of their 500+ US locations and all of their UK theaters on October 3rd. The fact that New York City remains closed was cited as a specific reason as to why the company decided to close everything. AMC Theatres and Cinemark pledged to remain open even though the former looks like it could run out of money by the end of the year. On October 17th, it was announced that New York theaters outside of the city could reopen on the 23rd. It appears that Regal has decided to take advantage of that. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Regal has announced they are reopening eleven locations in New York State and will reopen New York City locations as soon as they get clearance to do so.
"We are grateful to finally have initial guidelines from the state. With the implementation of robust health and safety measures as a part of our commitment to the CinemaSafe protocols, our New York theatres and staff are thoroughly prepared for a safe and sustainable reopening. After seven months, we are thrilled to welcome back our beloved staff and customers," said Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld, the parent of Regal and second largest global exhibitor after AMC.
While this is a step in the right direction, there still isn't any word about when New York City will reopen, which reportedly could make up as much as 10% of the domestic box office. Regal also wants to make it clear that they are only planning on reopening those eleven locations at the time, and other United States markets and the United Kingdom marks will remain closed for now.