theaters

In some parts of the country — like Georgia, for example — movie theaters will be able to open as soon as next week. The key word there is able. Just because they can, doesn’t mean they will, as exhibitors weigh the risks of opening their doors before the coronavirus pandemic is fully under control...

This order will remain in effect until March 24 when it may be amended and/or extended.

Here are just a few examples of how the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is changing the fabric of our everyday lives in Missoula.

There are some fine points of movie theater etiquette we all agree on. It’s rude to use your phone in the middle of a crowded auditorium. You don’t talk back at the screen unless it’s a movie directed by Tommy Wiseau. That sort of stuff...

The “freak accident” happened after he tried to retrieve his cell phone from under his seat.

Rarely a week goes by these days without someone proclaiming movies dead or dying or zombified and feasting on the brains of their victims. (That’s what you get for turning your brain off at the theater!) Mainstream Hollywood has seen better days, but film as an art form is just fine; in a world where Moonlight, The Handmaiden, Arrival, and Loving are all competing for screen space, there’s still life left in movies yet. I’m more concerned about movie theaters, where the presentation of those films seems to get worse every single year.

Last month, I tried out the new 4DX theater at the Regal Cinemas in Manhattan’s Union Square. Seating in the theater is assigned and it was a packed house; by the time I bought my ticket, my only choice was in a solo seat wedged between two other parties. To my left, was a couple in their 30s. To my right, was a guy who looked to be in his early 20s. When the movie started, he took out his cell phone and began taking pictures of the screen. He snapped a photo of the title card; of Superman’s first appearance; of the debut of the new Batmobile.