Drive-ins have been open for a few weeks and now Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills reopens tonight with "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
When Cinema Under the Stars opened in 1991, it never expected to have to shutdown for a global pandemic.
"I feel like suddenly life's pause button was hit and I was sucked into this grade-Z science fiction movie and I was rescued by Rod Serling and now I find myself in a 'Twilight Zone,'" said Ralph DeLauro who described himself as "co-curator, manager and utility infielder" for the outdoor venue.
The coronavirus pandemic has certainly made current life a bit like "The Twilight Zone" TV show. But Cinema Under the Stars is a bit like entering a different dimension as it creates a magical world where people can watch classic movies under a night sky. Anyone who’s walked the red carpet to enter the cinema and watch a movie will recognize DeLauro as the one who rings the opening gong to announce the start of screening.
The intimate outdoor venue closed in mid-March and has probably lost some $30,000 in revenue. But it can now reopen with new rules in place to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. Most notable is that the zero gravity recliners have been reduced in number and set in pairs at least six feet apart. Unlike an indoor venue with fixed seats, Cinema Under the Stars can move its seating to accommodate the social distancing with greater ease and flexibility.
Doug Yeagley owns the cinema as well as the adjoining Tops Salon.
"Probably the biggest challenge is just getting people to feel comfortable with the fact that we're an open air venue that only does one show a night so we have 24-hours to completely clean and sanitize and make sure that everything is in accordance with the law," he said.
Everyone is required to wear a mask unless seated six feet apart. Couples, however, are allowed to sit next to each other and still remove their masks.
Yeagley noted, "I think people respect each other a lot more here. It's not like sometimes when you get in a mall and you get large herds of people; they're not necessarily mindful of other people as much as they are here."
The cinema reopens with an audience favorite, Steven Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" starring Harrison Ford. Before coronavirus, going to movies was something we just took for granted. Now it may strike some as an Indiana Jones adventure since many have been sheltering at home and not venturing out except for essential needs. But this popcorn classic may lure some people out.
"It's always the one that brings people together," DeLauro said. "And that's actually been Doug's vision from the very start with Cinema Under the Stars. He had always wanted to create essentially a safe haven where people could feel comfortable, people could feel nourished, people could be stimulated intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and it evolved into a movie theater. So the whole idea of what we do and is to bring people together."
Now people can come together with the proper social distancing to once again enjoy a movie as a shared community experience.
"I mean, that's how cinema works. It's projected on a big screen in the dark with an audience. That's where the magic happens," DeLauro said.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" plays through Sunday with "Roman Holiday" scheduled for next week and "Casablanca" for Fourth of July weekend.
