Cinemas are beginning to open their doors in some areas of Spain and the large exhibition companies have designed a calendar for a progressive reopening. All theaters have June 26 marked on the calendar, the Friday on which most cinemas are expected to schedule new premieres. The decree of the de-escalation approved by the Government allows the attendance to cinemas in phase 2, with a third of the capacity, and in the phase 3, with already 50% of seats occupied. In smaller municipalities, some cinemas have been opening, such as the Gran Cinema Zugaza in Durango and the Cinemax Almenara in Lorca, but the sector is waiting for the big squares, Madrid and Barcelona, to complete this transition to the new normality.
Meanwhile, the big chains have already announced that they will gradually open theaters in different parts of the country. This is the calendar:
Cinesa – Monday, June 8
- Cinesa As Cancelas (Santiago de Compostela)
- Cinesa Puerto Venecia (Zaragoza)
- Chinese LUXURY Bonaire (Valencia)
Yelmo Cinemas – Friday June 12
- Cine Yelmo Premium Artea and Cine Yelmo Megapark in Vizcaya
- Yelmo Premium Lagoh Cinema in Seville
- Yelmo South Area Cinema and Yelmo Premium Puerta de Europa Cinema in Cádiz
- Yelmo Vecindario Cinema, Yelmo Las Arenas Cinema, Yelmo Premium Alisios Cinema in Gran Canaria
- Yelmo Fuerteventura Cinema in Fuerteventura
- Yelmo Meridiano Cinema and Yelmo Orotava Cinema in Tenerife
Renoir Cinemas – Staggered Reopening
- June 12 – Renoir Plaza España (Madrid)
- June 19 – Renoir Retiro (Madrid)
- June 19 – Renoir Floridablanca (Barcelona)
- June 26 – Cines Princesa (Madrid)
In the capital, the first room to open its doors will be the Artistic Metropol, a small independent space that since Monday, June 8, has already scheduled two films, ‘Parasites’, the Korean Oscar-winning film, and ‘Bacurau’, the Brazilian film which premiered on platforms during lockdown and can now be seen on the big screen.
Most of theaters plan to program films that were on the bill before the end of activity in the second week of March. There are titles such as ‘Invisibles’, by Gracia Querejeta, ‘The invisible man’, with Elizabeth Moss, or ‘Gentleman: gentlemen of the mafia’, by Guy Ritchie. In some cases, the list of films offered is completed with outstanding productions of the awards season, such as ‘1917’, by Sam Mendes or ‘Jojo Rabbit’, by Taika Waititi and reruns of films from previous years, such as ‘Origin’ or ‘Interstellar’.
Some distributors have chosen, in the months when theaters are closed, to make specific premieres on platforms. In most cases, under the online rental system and for a limited time. It is the case of the aforementioned ‘Bacaurau ‘and also’ My life with Amanda ‘,’ Little Joe ‘(within the D’A Film Festival) and’ Matthias & Maxime ‘, the new one by Xavier Dolan, which is scheduled to go the other way around and hit theaters on June 19. The first big opening movie weekend will be a week later, June 26 is the date chosen for the ‘new normal’ on the billboard. Both large studios and independent distributors have already announced the titles that they will take to theaters:
- Personal assistant (Universal)
- Mary’s possession (Eone)
- Alex’s tape (Syldavia cinema)
- A white, white day (The Audiovisual Adventure)
- Some beasts (El Sur Films)
- White gold (Karma Films)
- Valentine, dark revenge (Premium Cine)
- Human lost (Select vision)
- Run like a girl (Bosco Films)
- Divine love (Festival Films)
- Special screenings: Paradise cinema (Counterflow)
In all cases, cinemas communicate the compliance with health security measures: signage to ensure the safety distance, greater frequency of cleaning and disinfection between sessions, the mandatory capacity limit to encourage online shopping, the use of masks for workers and assistants …
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