Cinema chain sets reopening date, two-thirds of seats to be vacant

Palace Cinemas has become the first movie chain to announce a reopening date as coronavirus restrictions ease, with social distancing meaning that at least 65 per cent of seats are expected to be vacant initially.

The operator of 20 art-house cinemas, some jointly, plans to resume screenings on July 2.

That is earlier than expected given the major cinema chains, led by Event, Hoyts and Village, have been planning their returns around the release of Christopher Nolan's thriller Tenet on July 16.

While the Yatala Drive-In in south-east Queensland opened with social distancing restrictions earlier this month, the return to movie-going in capital cities started with Event's surprise reopening of the Skyline Drive-in western Sydney last weekend. Village's Coburg Drive-In in Melbourne's northern suburbs is due to follow next week.

Victoria has allowed cinemas to reopen for a maximum of 50 people per auditorium from June 22 but Palace chief executive Benjamin Zeccola believes restrictions will have eased enough in all states and territories for screenings to resume 10 days later.

Instead of six sessions a day in cinemas, he expected there would be just three initially because of the need for intensive cleaning of all surfaces between screenings.

With groups able to sit together - separated from other patrons - cinemas would have just 20 to 35 per cent of seats occupied initially.

The chain will screen the Steve Carell-Rose Byrne political comedy Irresistible, Judd Apatow’s comedy The King of Staten Island, the music industry romantic comedy The High Note and the Italian-American drama The Burnt Orange Heresy.

Palace also plans to resume the French Film Festival which was cut short when the pandemic forced cinemas to close in March.

Mr Zeccola said the chain wanted to reopen with new releases rather than films that had already screened in cinemas or were available online.

"Opening with anything that's not fresh is less attractive to us," he said.

Other COVID-19 safety measures include compulsory online booking, contactless payments, staggered session times to minimise congestion in foyers and hand sanitiser stations in cinema entrances.

Given the limited audiences allowed during social distancing, Mr Zeccola called on the federal government to extend the JobKeeper scheme for another six months and state governments to continue rental support for businesses disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

"The moment JobKeeper is repealed and if any landlord wants full rent, that cinema will be unviable," he said.

Critical to the success of cinemas reopening will be the release of Tenet, with Hollywood studio Warner Bros reportedly waiting to see see if 80 per cent of the world's cinemas are operating before proceeding with a global release.

Hoyts chief executive Damian Keogh has suggested it has a 50:50 chance of opening as scheduled given the impact of the virus in the US.

The Palace chain includes 180 of the country's 2000-odd screens at cinemas in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Byron Bay and Canberra.