Seacoast movie theaters waiting for major releases to reopen

By Jay Pinsonnault, Granite State News Collaborative

Despite state authorization to re-open this past Monday, the majority of movie theaters across New Hampshire remain closed.

All three Chunky's Cinema Pub locations – in Nashua, Manchester and Pelham – chose to open Monday when they were allowed to operate under Gov. Sununu’s direction.

However, four Seacoast cinemas – Regal Fox Run & RPX in Newington, Cinemark in Portsmouth, O’Neil Cinemas in Epping, and BarnZ’s in Barrington, remain closed, though BarnZ’s is showing drive-in movies in its parking lot. None of these four are showing movies inside their cinemas yet.

“We are keeping a close eye on CDC, local and state government guidelines to make the movie-going experience when we open again as safe and enjoyable as possible,” said Loni Dirksen, marketing manager at O’Neil Cinemas. “Although some states are allowing theaters to open now or soon, we also need to keep an eye on what movie studios are doing. As they delay the release of their new films to theaters, unfortunately we need to delay our opening day. There are always a lot of moving targets with everything involved in COVID-19.”

Anticipated movies with rescheduled release dates include Russell Crowe’s “Unhinged” (July 31), Disney’s live-action “Mulan” (Aug. 21), “Bill and Ted Face the Music” (Aug. 28) and “Wonder Woman 1984” (Oct. 2).

Regal Cinemas, including Regal Fox Run & RPX in Newington, plans to reopen all its U.S. theaters on July 31 instead of its previously announced date of July 10.

“In line with recent changes to upcoming film release dates, we have made the decision to move our reopening date to July 31,” said Regal Cinemas owner Cineworld said in a statement. “With the ongoing pandemic, this new date remains subject to final confirmation.”

Theaters across the state have been closed since March 17 at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cinemagic, a stadium seating theater with 10 screens, opened on Lafayette Road in Portsmouth in 2014. It announced it will reopen July 24 with classic movies for $5, followed by anticipated new releases starting July 31.

“We feel that opening with classic movies for $5 is the best way to welcome our guests back to Cinemagic and to start moving forward as we transition quickly back into showing first-run feature films,” Cinemagic President Mark Adam said.

When theaters reopen, employees and customers will be required to wear face masks when not seated. All theaters will also reduce capacity by 50%, increase cleanings between showings and implement other health and safety protocols.

“Theaters were allowed to open (Monday) but studios pushed its only big releases for July into August so there is no benefit to opening yet,” said Corey Sawyer, who has served as senior manager at O’Neil Cinemas in Epping since it opened in the fall of 2012. “I think there is a call for (movie theaters) opening. People are sitting in their homes with nothing to do. I know I have seen a lot of people online saying they are waiting for theaters to open so they have something to do again, and just a reason to go out.”

Ethan Guglielmo, a 2019 graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas and rising sophomore at Georgia Tech, would go to the movies three or four times a month before the COVID pandemic.

“I was planning on going back to theaters since it was going to be 50% capacity and wearing masks, but now with the spike (in cases) going up, I am a little more hesitant but still plan on going when more theaters open later in July,” said Guglielmo, a Hampton resident and chemical and biomolecular major.

Hollywood has pushed back the release of all of its movies to late July and August. The one movie Guglielmo is looking forward to seeing is Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet.” It is now scheduled to come out Aug. 12.

“That's definitely the one I want to see,” he said. “I really like (Nolan) and I loved all the trailers and it looks like a super fun, interesting movie.”

The staff at O’Neil in Epping has been busy getting the 12-screen cinema ready.

“We’re sanitizing and getting things cleaned and ready for this COVID-19 active response,” Sawyer said. “We’re changing out equipment, getting new equipment, changing our routines to suit the new world.”

Dirksen said movie-goers will see a variety of differences at O’Neil.

“Some things you will see at our locations when we do open include more frequent disinfectant fogging, sanitizer stations all over, face masks, barriers between staff and guests, staggered show times to aid social distancing in our lobbies, and blocked off rows and seats in our auditoriums to ensure social distancing in our auditoriums,” Dirksen said. “This is a sample of what we are doing to follow guidelines, a full list of our new policies and procedures will be up in the coming weeks.”

BarnZ’s in Barrington is transitioning its pop-up drive-in movie shows in its parking lot from a charity operation to part of its regular business this week. The business reported it had raised about $19,000 for New Hampshire Food Bank in six weeks of shows outside in the parking lot heading into the final charity show, which was set for Thursday, July 2. The drive-in shows at BarnZ’s will continue as part of its regular business, starting July 3-5 with a double feature of “Trolls World Tour” and “The Invisible Man” for $25 per car (maximum of six people).