AMC cinemas in the US will open this week with ultra-strict rules

A photograph taken on May 7, 2020 shows the screening room of the movie theatre, Cinema Majestic, in Paris, as the country is under a strict lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19. Image: Stephane de Sakutin/AFP

There will indeed be one empty, blocked-off seat beside each spectator in AMC movie theaters.

In order to respect the physical-distancing measures aimed to help avoid transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. company has already implemented a system so that customers avoid finding themselves right beside a stranger.

A controversy broke out on Twitter late last week when web users found that they were able to buy seats right beside other, already-reserved seats. Simply a technical error, Variety explains, and fixed as of Monday.

Starting this Thursday, the AMC Theatres group will be reopening 100 of their locations with just 30% capacity, suggesting that 70% of seats will be empty, which should be enough to respect advised physical-distancing measures.

After a successful trial, AMC Theatres decided to roll out the seat-blocking technology in its reservation system on a national level. Moviegoers are therefore able to reserve their seats in all locations proposing online ticket sales and be assured that there will be an empty seat on each side of them.

AMC aims to have two-thirds of its 600 theaters across the U.S. open by September 3. For the moment, New York and California, the two biggest markets in the U.S., have not authorized movie theaters to reopen, considerably slowing the recovery of the film industry in the country. NVG

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