Mortimer: Galleria will open either this week or next week

Galleria Cinemas President Chris Mortimer said his movie theater could open either this week or next week, after Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis granted its counterpart Fusion Superplex permission to reopen.

Galleria Cinemas has been closed since last March, when a state of emergency was announced and businesses were forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mortimer said the entertainment industry was anticipating a general announcement from the competent authority that there would be an easing of restrictions, but since that didn’t happen, he had to also request his own waiver for his cinemas.

“It was our expectation that the sector was going to be given permission to reopen and that we would have been adequately advised that the sector would be allowed under the emergency orders to reopen. That did not happen, so what we ended up doing was submitting to the Office of the Prime Minister and the competent authority for the ability to have a waiver under the emergency orders, in order for us to open to the public,” Mortimer told Guardian Business yesterday.

With Hollywood studios either delaying the release of new films or simultaneously releasing them in theaters and on streaming services, right now Mortimer said he is sourcing appetizing films for Bahamian audiences and determining how many employees will be brought back to work.

“Well we’ve always been ready to reopen. It’s just a matter now of determining when that opening date is going to be, whether it will be this week or next week, because we just have to line up the relevant film product. As you would be aware, in the United States almost 50 percent of theaters are still not open, as well as in the UK and other places around the world, so there aren’t a lot of film products that are available. What we’re doing is sourcing from our relative distributor client products that will be exciting for Bahamians,” he said.

“If you would have seen the waiver which was received from the competent authority, it included no indoor dining, so the concession stand component of it will not be open. It will just be for the reopening of watching a film. So not everyone will be back, because obviously if you work in the concession stand area there is nothing to do at this particular point in time… My understanding is that there will be no indoor dining or eating.”

Mortimer said he will seek clarification from the competent authority on the matter of serving concession foods and beverages. Asked whether he believes there is pent up demand for movie watching, Mortimer said it’s hard to tell.

“We’re going to see. I think if history is any indication, what we have seen is that in the United States – though some theaters have come back online – it’s still a long slog back. You know some people aren’t as concerned with COVID-19 as they should be and so I’m sure people will take the opportunity to see the movies that they wish to see, but you know we still have a curfew,” he said.

That curfew will be difficult to navigate, Mortimer said, meaning that there would be less showings of films with already reduced audience occupancy in the theaters.

“Movies run two hours, which would mean we’re only going to be able to operate at a certain time anyway. The curfew is at ten o’clock, so that means the last time that you can show a movie is effectively 7 p.m. to be out by 9 p.m. and to close up and for all of your staff to be home before curfew,” he said.

“So operating hours will probably run from about 1 p.m. to about 7 p.m. What we’re going to do is reduce ticket prices during this period of the emergency orders down from $10 to $7, so people can keep a little bit more of their money.”

Unable to operate at usual hours and capacity and possibly without serving concessions, the businessman said his focus isn’t on returning to profitability but rather keeping his business open.

“Well there are ways to operate efficiently so we’re going to do that. At this point it’s just a matter of breaking even. I think that’s kind of the focus, to have some of our employees back who can start to make some funds, so that’s always a good thing,” Mortimer said.

“So at this point in time I think it’s just a matter of keeping things breaking even until we’ve emerged from this pandemic.”

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