AMC Plainville and AMC Danbury will reopen on Aug. 20, the cinema chain announced Thursday, following five months closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. AMC follows Cinemark in Manchester and Cinepolis in West Hartford.
The 20-screen complex at 220 New Britain Ave. in Plainville and 16-screen complex at 61 Eagle Road in Danbury are two of 100 theaters nationwide participating in the first phase of a gradual rollout of cineplex reopenings.
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of AMC, the largest movie theater chain in the world, admission prices on that day only will be what they were in 1920: 15 cents. After that day, admission to vintage titles will be $5 and new releases will have normal admission prices.
AMC’s website announced that AMC Southington and Lisbon would reopen Aug. 27 and AMC Bloomfield on Sept. 3. By Sept. 3, the day the highly anticipated Christopher Nolan thriller “Tenet” is scheduled to be released, 400 of AMC’s 600 U.S. cineplexes will be reopened, AMC announced.
For the first time since early March, new movies are scheduled to be released theatrically on Aug. 21, including the Russell Crowe road-rage thriller “Unhinged,” the Korean-language zombie sequel “Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula,” the Wesley Snipes heist caper “Cut Throat City” and the AnnaSophia Robb mental-illness drama “Words on Bathroom Walls.”
Mask-wearing will be mandatory by all employees and guests. For a full list of regulations, visit amctheatres.com/amc-safe-and-clean.
Regal Cinemas in Waterbury, Branford, Waterford and Stonington also will reopen on Aug. 21, as will Gallery Cinemas in Colchester and Mystic Luxury Cinemas.
Cinepolis West Hartford is reopening Aug. 14 with vintage titles such as “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the King,” “Back to the Future,” “The Notebook,” “The Goonies” and the live-action “Beauty and the Beast.”
Cinemark Buckland Hills in Manchester opened July 21, showing vintage titles. Cinemark’s website announced that its theaters in North Haven and Milford would reopen Aug. 21. No reopening date was listed for Cinemark Enfield, but the chain’s spokeswoman, Caitlin Piper, said that theater would reopen.
All chains will be practicing social distancing in the theaters, with blocked-off seats to keep viewers separate, and other measures, and will implement enhanced sanitation techniques to stem the spread of COVID-19 contamination. For specific regulations, visit the theaters’ web sites.
Bow Tie Cinemas which has cineplexes in New Haven, Trumbull, Greenwich, New Canaan, Stamford and Norwalk, has not yet announced a reopening date. That chain reopened on June 17 but closed again on July 1 and announced on its website that “the plan is to reopen when new Hollywood movies are ready to be released again in theaters.”
No information was available on when Apple Cinemas in Simsbury, Waterbury and Torrington would reopen, or Holiday Wallingford, Mansfield Movieplex, Metro Movies Middletown or Madison Art Cinemas.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
