Caribbean Cinemas open for business

The Caribbean Cinemas chain of movie theatres reopened their doors to film lovers on Thursday. After Government announced the sixth stage of their phased reopening strategy last Saturday, bars, gyms, dine-in restaurants, cinemas, and theatres were allowed to restart commercial operations on Monday.

In accordance with guidelines for a "new normal" influenced by the covid19 pandemic and set by the Ministry of Health, Caribbean Cinemas has implemented new safety measures at both their Trincity Mall and SouthPark, San Fernando, locations.

Area manager Sharon Bernard took Newsday through a guided tour of the Trincity facility.

Markers, six feet apart, have been placed on the floor of the lobby and box office to encourage physical distancing and sanitiser stations have been installed throughout the establishment.

Seats are now numbered alphabetically and numerically and seat numbers are generated on the tickets. The system is now designed to accommodate only two people in a four-seat row, as maximum occupancy has been reduced to 50 per cent.

To encourage physical distancing, customers are encouraged to use the cinemas’ online ticketing service, which has also been updated.

Families of up to seven can be seated together, groups of ten will be separated into two groups of five and every other row will remain empty during while films are being shown. Concessions are also available online.

After every movie, theatres will be sanitised, and the lobby will also be sanitised every half hour. Masks are provided for staff and employees' temperatures will be checked daily.

Bernard said the new system requires a little more time than before to clean but, because the staff is used to dealing with many customers, it was not too difficult to adjust.

At the time of Newsday’s visit, customers were slowly trickling in.

Bernard said, “I expect people are waiting to hear from those who came out today before venturing out themselves, but we expect people to filter in throughout the day."

Newsday ran into one family, who were also spotted at the reopening of the Emperor Valley Zoo in Port of Spain on Monday. The parents were there with their two small children but requested anonymity.

“We did our research, before coming out, on the risks of going to the movies and we felt good about it," One parent said. "We are happy with the procedures put in place. We come here all the time."

In a statement released by Caribbean Cinemas on Wednesday, discounts will be offered on all 2D movie tickets throughout the week for a limited time. Tickets at the SouthPark location are $25 and $23 at Trincity. Prices for premium auditoriums CXC and 4DX at SouthPark will be $35 and $25 respectively.