New Jersey Theaters Will Remain Closed for Now
By George Robbins
Movie theaters have been doing their best as of late to reopen their doors to the public and make some kind of revenue again. Their being closed has left many theater owners without any kind of income while still having to pay for the properties all on their own. Maintenance without new income is difficult, especially for those owners who were not prepared for such a scenario. This is going to result in the closure of many independent theaters and it will change how some places work moving forward. Although some companies are moving ahead with their openings, the pandemic itself is still a very real threat that could be even more problematic for theaters as time rolls on.
Theaters have started doing the best they could under the new guidelines in place that are there to prevent more people from getting sick. This will be important from this point on as more businesses open up, but there is still going to be a risk involved with the reopening of the movie theaters. Even with limited capacity, theaters are still an enclosed space where many people sit down for a couple of hours at a time. This makes the possibility of people getting sick much more plausible and it is a cause of concern for some. Even wide-open public places like parks and amusement parks have been complained about by the concerned public because of the risk that they pose to everyone. This is another reason why opening theaters isn’t exactly being seen as a great idea.
Big theater companies have been pushing off the reopening of their doors for awhile at this point so that they could try and reopen as many theaters as they can simultaneously. This has presented a big problem for these companies as of late because not every place is allowing them to open their doors back up to the public. They wanted to open up as many theaters as possible so that they would be able to show movies all over the place which gives them more opportunity to make revenue. By only opening a few theaters, they give themselves limited theatrical runs due to contracts with studios. The more theaters they show the movies in, the more money they will end up making as a result.
Now that theaters are opening, they are trying to pressure states into allowing the opening of theater doors so that they have more of a chance at bringing in revenue. One of the states that theater owners are trying to pressure is the State of New Jersey because they would not allow the reopening of theaters due to the potential health hazard. They tried doing this by putting up a lawsuit against the state for allowing other public venues to open, but not theaters. New Jersey isn’t the only state that isn’t allowing them to open as the State of New York is doing the exact same thing for the same health concerns. New Jersey has since ruled against theater owners who have claimed that shutting down theaters infringe on their right to free speech. It is easy to see that this is not a good reason to hold up in court and why they were denied the right to reopen just yet. There is no telling just when they will reopen in New Jersey, but for now we know it will be awhile.