Oswego Cinema 7, the local movie theater in Oswego, has been closed since March 17 following an order by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. While Cuomo allowed movie theatres outside of New York City to reopen on Oct. 23, Oswego Cinema 7 is still closed.
On Oct. 19, a day after Cuomo announced movie theaters can reopen, Oswego Cinema 7 posted on its Facebook page that it were planning on opening soon.
“We are happy to announce that Oswego Cinema 7 will be opening soon,” the Facebook post stated. “More information will be available soon so keep an eye out for our next post.”
“I don’t have enough first-run films to open this Friday,” said owner Conrad Zurich in a Palladium-Times interview. “So, we’re pushing it back a week.”
Theaters reopening across the state must follow certain guidelines mandated by state health officials. These restrictions include a limit on the number of people in the theater, assigned seating and all people in the theater must wear a mask at all times.
On top of these restrictions that theaters must follow, counties opening theaters must have a less than 2% infection rate across the last two weeks, and the theaters must have an enhanced air filtration system that satisfies the New York state standards.
In the most recent posts on Oswego Cinema 7’s Facebook page, the theater posted safety guidelines from the state that they will be enforcing upon reopening. It has also expressed its pride in collaborating with CinemaSafe.
“We are proud to partner with CinemaSafe: a program promoting protocols and guidelines developed and supported by leading epidemiologists to support a safe return to movie theaters,” the Facebook post stated.
Before COVID-19 restrictions, Oswego Cinema 7 could house a maximum of 232 people per showing. Now, all theaters are limited to only 50 people per showing. This is just 21.5% of the theater’s capacity. Oswego Cinema 7 still has not released its planned reopening date, but it has expressed its commitment to following state protocols when they do reopen.
“We’re going to space people out so there is a minimum of six-foot clearance for every group,” Zurich said to The Palladium-Times. “We will have sufficient spacing between the groups so that we will not have problems.”
Photo by Ben Seligson | The Oswegonian
