by Abb Jones
The Reelness

The world’s major movie theater chains are unveiling plans to reopen in mid-July – if they can reassure nervous moviegoers they will be safe from the coronavirus pandemic and if they get some new content.

For those of you ready to venture out, for now it appears the first new release will be the Russell Crowe road rage thriller Unhinged. After initially announcing a July 1st premiere this week, Solstice Studios moved it back to July 10th, after Warner Bros. Pictures moved back its planned July 17th release of the Christopher Nolan $200 million spy thriller Tenet to July 31st.

Prior to these latest release date pushbacks, the world’s largest theater chain, AMC Theatres, had announced plans for a July 1st reopening. AMC and other theater chains are rolling out varying plans to enact social distancing inside theaters and to clean theaters between shows, but so far, requirements vary from chain to chain and from state to state, further confusing moviegoers already wary about returning.

The selection of new movies, for the short term anyway, will be limited, as nervous movie studios continue to push back releases of their big blockbusters until later this year. On Friday, Warner Bros. Pictures said it would be pushing back the scheduled August 14th theatrical release of Wonder Woman 1984 to October 2nd.

COVID-19 continues to spread worldwide, with new daily record numbers of infections reported in multiple states, such as California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona. The combination of states reopening, quarantine fatigue, and potential mass spreading events such as protest marches and holiday weekends has many health officials concerned.

Will you be returning to theaters next month? Or is it too soon? Share your thoughts in our comment section.