SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Like many families we’ve gotten used to watching movies, sitting in our living room, in our PJs, with our snacks and kids nearby — but that all changes today.
David and Janet Jacobs couldn’t be any happier to be fully vaccinated, out of the house, and just moments away from catching a movie inside of the Angelika Film Center and Café in Carmel Mountain.
"Yes we're so glad to be back on what feels like a spring day it feels like we're turning the corner on COVID," Janet Jacobs says.
Movie theaters across the county are reopening today now that San Diego County is in the red tier. They can operate indoors with a maximum of 25% capacity or 100 people.
We visited Reading Cinemas as they prepared to resume operations at their three locations.
Ken Gillich, with Reading Cinemas, says they’ve been "dusting everything off, we are firing up equipment, we are turning on lights, most importantly we are scrubbing scrubbing scrubbing, cleaning cleaning cleaning."
Reading has also launched an online platform, Angelika Anywhere, so users who don't feel safe going to a theater just yet can watch safely from home.
But while the doors remained closed, the equipment sat idle, which is also what happened to their revenue.
In January, AMC, the world’s largest movie theatre chain, narrowly escaped bankruptcy, thanks to more than $900 million of emergency cash flow made mostly by investors. This weekend, the company plans to reopen 40 of its California theaters.
And with more businesses reopening, many are hopeful this is the start of brighter days ahead.
