In late April and early May, authorities in different countries began to relax restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, the film industry is gradually returning to life. However, while some cinemas are preparing for the soon opening and composing a repertoire, others prefer not to rush in order to be able to assess the damage from COVID-19.

One of the first to remove the restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the US authorities began. According to CNBC, as early as April 20, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp talked about plans to restore the state’s economy, saying that many closed enterprises could return to business on Friday, April 24. Cinemas were invited to open their doors on Monday, April 27, subject to social distance and hygiene requirements.

However, despite relief from the authorities, some major movie networks, including AMC and Cinemark, refused to open cinemas on these dates. According to the leaders, earlier they had to fire most of the employees. In addition, all sites have been closed since mid-March, and, given the current situation, it is impossible to prepare for the opening in a few days.

Another obstacle was the repertoire: many of the expected releases were postponed for several months, and now movie networks can only offer pictures of independent distributors and tapes that were already at the box office.

Texas authorities began to ease restrictions on businesses from May 1, allowing movie theaters and individual companies to return to work with 25% bandwidth and in compliance with all security requirements. Here, as in Georgia, major chains such as Cinemark, AMC, and Alamo Drafthouse chose not to open their cinemas, while Evo Entertainment and Santikos Entertainment opened several cinemas in early May.

Santikos Entertainment’s repertoire included Trolls. World Tour ”,“ Bloodshot ”,“ Believe in Love ”,“ Invisible Man ”and others. During the first weekend of May, three movie theater cinemas located in the city of San Antonio were visited by just under three thousand people.

It is expected that on May 15 the first car cinemas will be launched in New York.

In late April, cinemas in South Korea gradually began to open. So, on April 29, the leading CJ CGV network opened 36 cinemas. On April 30, six Lotte Cinema cinemas were launched, and on May 1, 11 Megabox cinemas. At the same time, a number of measures are provided aimed at ensuring the safety of guests: seating in a checkerboard pattern, a reduced number of sessions, checking the temperature of the audience, etc.

The owners of many multiplexes in South Korea have begun to introduce contactless technology. The CJ CGV network in some cinemas replaced personnel with robots, installed automated kiosks and prepared convenient mobile applications. Thanks to all these measures, viewers no longer need to contact the staff to reserve, receive or scan their tickets.

In 22 cinemas, Lotte Cinema also introduced similar technologies. To purchase tickets for films that are not permitted to certain age groups, viewers will have to scan their ID cards.

Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities announced the possibility of opening cinemas from May 8, subject to the restriction of the number of visitors and compliance with all security measures. However, as of last Friday night, there were no films in the repertoires of movie networks.

From the same day, it became possible to operate Hong Kong cinemas with a limited bandwidth of up to 50%. The repertoire of one of the largest local multiplex networks, Broadway Cinemas, includes several Asian films, as well as films by American independent distributors: “Don’t worry, he won’t go far”, “It's hard for a man to live: Welcome home, Tora-san!” other. It is also planned to rent an animated film “Trolls. World Tour "and the drama" Emma ".

  • Masked people in Prague cinema
  • AFP
  • © Michal Cizek

In Europe, the Norwegian government allowed the opening of movie theaters on May 8. But due to strict sanitary measures and lack of releases, many networks refused to return to work. However, some still decided to take a chance and opened their doors. Among them, for example, Vega Scene.

Also, some cinemas earned in the Czech Republic - they began to open on May 11. Minister of Health Adam Vojtech warned that the number of viewers at one movie show cannot exceed 100 people.

The opening of movie theaters in Germany is expected in May. The halls in Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein will start operating on May 18, and in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia on May 30. According to the rules established by the authorities, the minimum distance between spectators should be about one and a half meters, which is approximately equivalent to three seats in the cinema. Cinemas will also need to implement social distance rules in the lobby. However, as Variety notes, the lack of new products, the lack of detailed safety guides in individual regions and the coordination between movie theater owners and film distributors across the country made the prospects for opening cinemas very vague.

In turn, the British government published recommendations on how to get out of the pandemic, according to which cinemas in the country will start operating no earlier than July 4. 

Later, Irish cinemas will open their doors on August 10th.

Interestingly, many Swedish cinemas did not close at all during the pandemic. So, the second largest network in the country, Svenska Bio, continued to operate, with 47 cinemas and about 200 screens at its disposal. The number of viewers was limited to 50 per session. In addition, in cinemas, all other safety measures were followed.

Lack of prime

Obviously, immediately after returning to work, the global film industry will face a number of problems, one of which will be a lack of content. A number of Hollywood novelties, which were eagerly awaited by viewers from around the world, have been postponed for several months or even a year. Among these paintings - “It's not the time to die”, “Mulan”, “Quiet Place 2”, “Black Widow”, “Fast and the Furious 9”, “Wonder Woman 1984”, “Minions: Gruvitation” and many others.

Independent distributors can save the situation on the market, but, as Variety notes, they do not want to release their films immediately after the opening of movie theaters, fearing that there will be too few viewers.

Among the few distributors preparing to be the first to release their tapes are the French division of Memento Films Distribution and the Spanish company A Contracorriente Films. Most European distributors pushed the premieres until the fourth quarter of 2020 or early next year, risking an influx of pending and new releases from American studios such as Sony and Paramount. At the same time, most European distributors do not consider the option of distributing their paintings through VOD services, because they are afraid that the films will be lost in a sea of ​​online content.  

It seems that the only one who is not afraid of all the challenges that the film industry will face after the end of the pandemic and the removal of all restrictive measures is Christopher Nolan. The director flatly refuses to postpone the premiere of his new film "The Reason", which is scheduled for July 16 in Russia and on the 17th in the USA.

  • Los Angeles Pandemic Cinema
  • Reuters
  • © Lucy Nicholson

However, according to Variety, some insiders believe that the July release is unlikely, as the number of patients with coronavirus is still growing in many states. There are also concerns that the weakening of preventive measures in Georgia and Texas and the resumption of the work of certain enterprises will contribute to the emergence of new waves of the epidemic, which will postpone plans to return viewers to movie theaters across the country.

With a production budget of about $ 200 million, the Reason cannot go out only in those areas that are least affected by coronavirus. The film is also aimed at foreign audiences, but in other countries a similar situation is developing. Cinemas began to open gradually in a number of countries, but most large international markets will come back to life much later.

Resumption of filmmaking

Along with the opening of cinemas, film production is also resuming. An important step was the mitigation of the spread of coronavirus in the Czech Republic. Since May 11, events are allowed here with the number of participants up to 100 people. Thus, in the near future the shooting of such series as “Carnival Row” (second season), “Wheel of Time” (first season), as well as “Falcon and Winter Soldier” will continue.

On May 11, France also began to ease restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic, and film production is expected to resume in late spring and early summer. 

On May 7, Deadline announced that resumption of filmmaking was already allowed in New Zealand. On the territory of this country, such expected projects as the continuation of Avatar and the series on The Lord of the Rings should be filmed. Upon arrival in New Zealand, film crews will need to go through the registration process to facilitate contact tracing and disease monitoring.

  • Filming Avatar 2
  • © kinopoisk.ru

In Russia, the press service of the Ministry of Culture announced that it is planned to create a single coordinating center on the resumption of the filming process on the basis of the Department of Cinematography. Specific decisions will be made in accordance with the recommendations of the Rospotrebnadzor and orders of regional authorities.

While everyone is home

While it is impossible to talk about the end of the pandemic, online content providers in the Russian Federation are developing measures to maintain the quality of the services provided at the proper level.

On April 21, 2020, the Association of Legal Online Cinema "Internet Video", which includes Amediateka, Megogo, ivi, Okko and tvzavr, sent a letter to the Ministry of Communications with a request to oblige telecom operators not to restrict traffic even under conditions of increased network load, the " Kommersant. "

Such a measure will allow sites to consistently provide users with quality content, which the organization considers particularly important in conditions of self-isolation.

In early April, the Ministry of Telecommunications and Communications offered some Internet companies measures to optimize content, including disabling auto-playback of materials and limiting the quality of video.

In March, Netflix streaming service announced a limitation of video quality in Europe in order to reduce network load.