Reopening cinemas not risky business: Landmark CEO

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This article was published 26/02/2021 (1153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the next few months, two notable shot-in-Winnipeg films are expected to get a release in cinemas, including director Ilya Naishuller’s violent shoot-’em-up Nobody, starring Bob Odenkirk, expected to hit theatres March 26.

A couple of months later, the horror film Seance, the debut feature from director Simon Barrett starring Suki Waterhouse, will also make its way into theatres courtesy of RLJE Films on May 26. (The plan is that it will simultaneously open digitally and in on-demand platforms, before heading to the horror streaming service Shudder later this year.)

Unfortunately, the cinematic experience is still out of reach for Manitobans for the time being since cinemas closed in November, with no reopening in sight.

That’s a frustration for Bill Walker, the CEO of Landmark Cinemas, which operates the Grant Park and Towne cinemas in Winnipeg, especially since many other more risky businesses are expected to be cleared to operate in various degrees as code-red restrictions may fall away in Manitoba.

On Thursday, the province’s chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said restaurants, gyms and fitness centres might open in diminished capacities as early as March 5, or March 26, after the public is given the chance to have input.

“Our perspective is one of frustration and real disappointment in how our business and industry is being framed in this,” Walker says in a phone interview from Calgary.

He points out that in Canada, there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 being spread in cinemas and there have been no cases of transmission among Landmark staff.

“We have big buildings. These aren’t high-density operations when you take the capacity out,” he says, adding that Grant Park Cinemas’ capacity had already been cut in half with the installation of big recliner seats. “Now we’re limiting the capacity even further. We have reserved seating. Every auditorium is independent of the other. The showtimes start at separate times so people don’t overlap on arrival and departure.

“It’s actually remarkable how well-positioned theatres are to provide distancing at all steps of the experience,” he says. “We are built for a really high volume but when you take out that volume and we can spread out our showtimes, you can control the experience in a really remarkable way.

“We’re not advocating against other businesses,” Walker asserts. “We’re only looking at this on a relative basis and trying to understand how these decisions are made. If I look at restaurants going to 50 per cent capacity, a fitness centre being opened, a pool being opened, but somehow a movie theatre cannot open?

“I just can’t get my head around that,” he says. “What we’re trying to understand is on what basis these decisions (are made).”

Currently, Landmark Cinemas are only operating throughout Saskatchewan and in parts of Ontario. Walker says he is fine with closures as long as they are made consistently across all businesses that serve the public.

“It’s so frustrating because we actually feel that we should be the first venue to reopen,” he says. “People need a sense of normalcy. They need activities and things they can do that are safe.

“And frankly, having been open for most of the summer and the fall with no transmission in theatres, I really felt that we had demonstrated a great track record of operating safely.”

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing