Cinemark theaters re-opening - we interview Vice President of PR about their plan

Very excited to talk to you today because, as you know, everyone is a movie lover and wants to get back to this world, but the world sometimes doesn't want us to go back there. We have to wait till the right moment comes. It's interesting to talk now because there are many people trying to figure out their own personal safety timelines and how things work too. So, to talk to Cinemark and to talk to Century Theaters here in Las Vegas, Chanda is here with us right now. She is the Vice President of Investor Relations and Public Relations. I really want to get into what we are looking for in this new age of quarantine and entertainment. What was the first step in the conversation as you were preparing for theaters to reopen or even the mindset of theaters to reopen?

Wow, that's pretty great. That's something that I think is set especially with this day and age of so many birthdays out there and all these events with kids and families that I'm sure want an opportunity to do something, but you know, what can you do and how can you get away and how can you control certain situations to the best of your ability? I know that even parks now have tables that are blocked off in areas, so we can't even have good old open-air adventures or experiences for kids when it comes to birthdays. I know that sanitizers, wipes, and of course masking gloves for all your employees is all going to be kind of a standardized thing too. So, what is something that you're very excited about to get people back into this mindset, to get people back into enjoying the experience of a theater?

Well, and as you can tell here at the bottom, we already have our locations here in Las Vegas. Century 16 Suncoast, Century 16 Santa Fe, Century Orleans 18, Century 18 Sam's Town, Century 16 South Point, Cinedome 12 in Henderson. I already took a glance at some of the movies we can look forward to: Jumanji: The Next Level, Back to the Future, Iron Man, Jurassic Park, The Goonies, Ghostbusters. So there's a lot of historic cinema love coming back to the theaters for sure. A lot of nostalgia. But there is something to be said about enjoying it in the theater for the first time. Some of these films, if you never saw them in the theater, it's a much different experience. I've seen Jurassic Park on Blu-ray and at home many times, but when I think of Jurassic Park, I still think about it in the theater when I was young. That velociraptor grabbing someone and dragging him into the cage—spoil alert—I still think about that moment because it was very seminal in my movie-going experience and how I grew up enjoying franchises and movies as a whole. So I thought that was very important. And is that something you're trying to go along with—nostalgia but also experience when it comes to titles you choose?

I very much appreciate all the forethought that has gone into this. I'm constantly getting emails now about movies they want to come back. I recently got one about Russell Crowe's Unhinged, looking at an opportunity to bring that into theaters as well. That's something I'm looking for—a tenant, which of course became tentative after a long time. We'll look for that in the future. But there are many titles, so it'll be nice to get back to the opportunity to enjoy them the way they're meant to be seen, as well as the group atmosphere and experience with other people in the theater. We all remember jump scares and all those communal moments. So I'm very excited to see that.

Well, I guess the last thing is: if someone were to come to you and say, 'How can you open theaters once again?' what would you say to them to assuage their fears in this very questionable world?

Well, fantastic. It's something where I'm very excited to have someone take things like this seriously and set rules in place that can hopefully make everyone feel safe, even when we know that sometimes our neighbors aren't the safest people. But hopefully we can have some rules to set them in their own corral and make sure we can all be communal again when it comes to movies and all these experiences. Personally, I am definitely interested in the Private Watch Parties. Yes, that's going to be a very fun thing. I definitely want to see how that works and how many people take advantage of it early on, because I can already tell there are a lot of fun opportunities and missed birthdays—kids' birthdays or adult birthdays—that would love the opportunity to have their friends back, but in a safe environment. So now everyone can come about, we can all be part of the same thing, but everyone can feel safe about seeing their friends again. I definitely want to see that, and I think it's going to be a fun addition as we go through the rest of this year for sure. So I want to thank you so much for talking with us and for taking this seriously as we move forward, because this is on everyone's minds one way or the other. As a film critic myself, I have missed the theater. I have missed being part of that experience. And when I do my reviews, I tend to judge some of it on how everyone else is enjoying it too. Maybe I'm not the right audience for a kid's movie, but if I see kids having a great time, that's how I'm going to review it because they're the audience. So you're absolutely right.

Well, I want to thank you again. Everyone can find their closest theater here in Las Vegas. We have six here, and everyone should go get a chance to check out the films. Great pricing on everything. There are definitely opportunities to reinvigorate yourself in the movie experience in a safe way. Hopefully before long, we'll be able to get back to the way it was and enjoy it in that sense too. So thank you once again. I look forward to sitting in the theater again and enjoying the film. Visit cinemark.com for full theater details on specific opening dates and the Cinemark Standard, and to book your tickets. It's show time.