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Harkins reopens movie houses – but expect changes
PROGRESS NEWS STAFF
Scottsdale-based Harkins Theaters is raising the curtain again after the nearly six-month pandemic shutdown, but moviegoers should prepare for a somewhat different experience.
Harkins’ new safety protocols – including mandatory masks unless in your seat munching popcorn or eating some other item from the snack bar – won Arizona’s largest theater chain permission to reopen from the state Department of Health Services.
While Harkins opened last Friday, it’s getting into the belated – and truncated – summer blockbuster season with special showings starting tomorrow, Aug. 31, of Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet.”
That movie was originally supposed to begin the annual rollout of megamillion motion pictures until businesses were shut down in March in Arizona and many other parts of the country. Many blockbusters have been delayed by major studios until the holiday season while others have been rolled to next year.
The Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas in Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert also won permission to open a few days before Harkins got the green light.
But Harkins’ major multiplex competitor, AMC Theaters, remained dark at press time.
“There is no question that this has been the most difficult time in my 50 plus years in the business,” said Dan Harkins, owner of the theaters that bears his family’s name. “I am so excited and so appreciative of our incredible team and tremendously loyal guests that have continued to support us through this challenging time,”
Harkins President/CEO Mike Bowers
Dan Harkins
said reopening is not only good news for them but for moviegoers numbed by the wave of pandemic-related news in recent months. “In trying times, people have always looked to us to escape for just a few hours of solace and to immerse themselves in another world,” said Bowers.
But moviegoers won’t be able to escape the pandemic and its impact completely.
The mask mandate is ironclad, for one thing.
And if you don’t want to comply, you’ll have to either wait until Maricopa County relaxes its mask mandate – something not likely any time soon – or just go back to Netflix.
“Face coverings required for the Harkins team and for guests (except while eating/drinking in seats),” Harkins said in its announcement. “If a guest does not have a face covering, one will be available at the theatre.
“Guests that do not want to wear a face covering will be asked to wait and return to the movies when governmental public health mandates have relaxed.”
There will be more room between couples and families and others, with reserved seating similar to what the AMC chain already was doing before the shutdown.
Overall capacity will be at 50 percent and showtimes will be staggered to reduce the number of people milling around in the lobby.
That plastic cup that entitles “loyalty’’ members to reduced-price drinks all year will be honored with beverages dispensed into disposable cups instead. And there will be special lines at the concession stands for “touchless’’ transactions with credit cards only.
Harkins said its new protocols “will meet or exceed uniform guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, governmental health authorities and the National Association of Theatre Owners so that guests can sit back, relax, and get lost in the magic of the movies.”
Harkins is adding enhanced cleaning and sanitizing and daily health checks for staff.
When buying a ticket online, patrons will see what seats are available and will have to acknowledge an awareness of the mask rule. That acknowledgement also tells them to stay home if they feel ill.
Along with hand sanitizers throughout its theaters, Harkins also has installed increased fresh air, hospitalgrade MERV 13 air filters and HEPA filtered vacuums in all auditoriums. The Merv 13 filters have a far higher effectiveness rating than the ones used in many businesses and other public places.
Harkins and all other Arizona theaters closed in late March when Gov. Doug Ducey said that only “essential businesses’’ could remain open.
He eased up on the rules in May when he ended his stay-at-home orders.
But those changes resulted in a massive spike in COVID-19 infections. So, the governor in late June shut the doors on them again, along with gyms, fitness centers, tubing and water parks.
The current rules in place allow reopening -- but only at 50 percent capacity in the five counties – including Maricopa – where the spread of the virus has been reduced from “substantial’’ to “moderate.’’
Those orders, though, allowed individual theaters to petition to reopen if they could show they can operate safely, even in counties where the risk of the virus remains high.
The addition of the Harkins chain to what can be opened is a major development.
Until Tuesday, the state health department had agreed to provide waivers to only four theaters not located in the five counties where businesses can reopen.
Meanwhile, AMC on Aug. 21 reopened more than 100 movie theaters in 17 states and the District of Columbia but Arizona is not among them.
Only several months ago, reports said that the pandemic had crippled AMC worldwide.
“AMC is carrying billions in debt and has been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for months,” The Hollywood Reporter said two months ago of the nation’s largest movie chain.
In the theaters it has opened, AMC has announced new safety equipment and protocols almost identical to those of Harkins.
