Get The Popcorn Popping: Cinemas Are Now Fully Open

Speaker 1: 00:00 Yesterday Angelica film center at Carmel mountain reopened for morning screenings under the new guidelines from the state KPBS arts reporter, Beth AKA Mondo was at the busy cinema to speak with its marketing manager, Natasha Mulholland, about what changes you can expect when you go to a movie Natasha Speaker 2: 00:20 On June 15th, the state had an announcement, which is changing everything for you at the cinema. So what does that announcement mean for you? Speaker 3: 00:29 For us, it's really a moment of joy. Uh, we have felt a great deal of suffering throughout this time. It was so difficult to, uh, you know, enforce all these new measures. Uh, we had many people upset about having to wear a mask or, you know, upset about having to wait in seemingly longer lines because of the social distancing. Uh, however, we did everything according to state and local guidelines, and we really wanted to make sure we were on top of all that and making the public feel comfortable and safe to come back. And so now is the time to get off your couch and come back and see a real movie in a real theater. So we're thrilled to be welcoming people back. Speaker 2: 01:12 And so what are the new guidelines mean for you specifically? Are you at full capacity now, Speaker 3: 01:17 Starting now we are at 100% capacities, so we will no longer enforce social distancing measures. So when you book your seat, there are more seats to choose from. We will have a regular seating and there won't be that social distancing requirement where it automatically blocks off seats next to you. And we will have more seating available as the larger films come out like F nine, the saga and black widow and people are really, really going to want to see those films. We've already sold out several screenings at the lower capacity. So now we're going to be able to open up more seats. Speaker 2: 01:52 And what does it mean in terms of mask wearing? Speaker 3: 01:55 So point there, what we have asked the public and that we have signs saying that by entering the building and not wearing a mask, you attest that you have been vaccinated in full. And if you, uh, have not been, we are requiring that you come in with a mask on and wear it in all common areas. This is up to the patron to be honest about. And we do really hope that people do the right thing. Speaker 2: 02:25 So with the guidelines, allowing you to be at full capacity, uh, there's going to be a push now to get people back into the cinema. And what is that going to entail for you? Speaker 3: 02:34 Absolutely. We strongly encourage people to come back and we've already seen a fantastic response with our regulars and a lot of the patrons here who love us. And we want to encourage more people to come back through cinema week, which is taking place June 22nd to 27th. And it incorporates several fun events. So we'll be doing movie trivia on that outdoor patio, uh, June 23rd at 7:00 PM. We're here to test your movie knowledge. I'd love to quiz you bet. Speaker 4: 03:03 I'm sure you would beat everybody. Maybe not. Um, so Speaker 3: 03:09 We'll be doing movie trivia. We have south coast winery coming from Temecula to do a wine tasting. The wine maker will be here Thursday, the 24th. And on the 25th, we have second chance of beer on the patio doing a beer tasting. So we want to encourage people to come back and enjoy the things that we have to offer here. And we are partnering with, uh, some of the local businesses in the mall that will be offering a discount or prize, uh, that will raffle off during the week of cinema week. So we're really trying to encourage people to come back, see the movies that we have available and get back here. Speaker 2: 03:41 Those events are here at the Angelica film center. You also represent Redding theaters and the Claremont's doing something a little bit. Yeah. Speaker 3: 03:49 So the Claremont town square mall has a super fun event for kids and families. Saturday, June 26th, from 12 to 2:00 PM, we'll be doing balloons and face painting and, um, there's going to be music and, uh, we'll be giving out some prizes as well. And the mall does have some party business participants there that will be, um, doing discounts. Speaker 2: 04:13 My favorite reading theaters is the Grossmont, not just because it's close to my house, but because it has a gorgeous large screen, is that theater also participating in this cinema week. Speaker 3: 04:23 Redding cinemas Grossmont is also participating in cinema week. We've partnered with several businesses in the mall that will be offering a discount and we'll be offering coupons and special prizes that we'll be raffling off inside our theaters. During Speaker 2: 04:36 That week Gelica film center has also done special events, not just new releases, but also other kinds of screenings of older films. So are you going to be returning to some of that kind of programming in addition to the new releases? Are we really? Speaker 3: 04:51 I hope so. Uh, however right now the focus is on getting people back to see movies in general and to focusing on the films that are coming out, uh, we want to be supportive of our distribution partners and to really highlight the films that are going to be coming out, especially in the next few months through fall, everything that was canceled or postponed from 2020 is going to bombard us. So we have so many great films just coming out back to back to back. So we certainly will return to repertory programming, just not at this time. Yeah. Speaker 2: 05:22 What has this change in guidelines meant for the theater staff? How has it been adapting to this pretty much overnight? Speaker 3: 05:30 Well, actually at first staff staff are still required to wear masks until we hear the directive from Cal OSHA, which has yet to come out. Um, however, we will reevaluate that situation. Once we have a direct guideline from that. Speaker 2: 05:45 And for you personally, what does it feel like to get back to a cinema and see the venues full and at capacity? Speaker 3: 05:53 Well, we have yet to be full, but we hope that people come back. I feel a strong sense of positivity. I think people really do want to get out of the house and want to have that feeling of normality. Again, I think that our cinemas are a place for community and for families and people who love film, especially the Angelica. So I really have an overwhelming sense of joy and hope that we will bounce back. Speaker 2: 06:21 Now there's been some concern, people are saying, oh, because people have gotten used to streaming movies and watching them at home that they may not want to come back to cinemas. And I'm wondering, how do you feel about that in terms of what you're seeing in ticket sales and what you're seeing in theater? Speaker 3: 06:39 Been many encouraging signs from our patrons. We've seen many of our regulars come back. We've had a lot of inquiries on our social media channels. I think people are very excited to come back to see films. And we've seen a lot of pre-sales for F nine, the fast saga. We just released ticket advanced ticket sales for black widow. And that has been incredibly popular already. I think a lot of times it just depends on the film, a quiet place too, and Cruella did great for us, and we're hoping that we can encourage people to come see some of the smaller films as well. We have a fantastic documentary about Rita Moreno opening this week, as well as the sparks brothers, the Edgar Wright film. And we're really hoping that people do come back. I see signs that are very encouraging and I think, I think people need to, uh, get out of the house. All Speaker 2: 07:31 Right. Well, thank you very much for talking about the reopening of Speaker 3: 07:35 We can't wait. Can't wait to see people back. Speaker 1: 07:39 That was Beth Armando speaking with Natasha Mulholland at the Angelika film center at Carmel mountain. Beth recommends checking out the new Rita Moreno documentary opening on Friday.