Regal Cinemas is catching the classics craze.
The 2nd largest theater chain in North America, Regal Cinemas has joined AMC Theatres (the 1st) and Cinemark (the 3rd) as national multiplexes that will lean heavily on Hollywood’s blockbuster catalog to woo patrons back to movie theaters in July.
Regal also announced similar safety protocols, including 50% capacity, regular intensive theater cleaning, and ticketless entry. They also joined AMC in requiring patrons to wear face masks when not consuming concessions. (Cinemark has yet to change their stance, currently sticking to a “masks optional” guideline for their moviegoers.)
One area where Regal has gone a step further? They’re the first to announce an actual list of classic titles and release dates.
Beginning on July 10, Regal theaters will screen the following:
- July 10: The Empire Strikes Back, Jurassic Park, Black Panther, Rocky, Unforgiven, Inside Out, and Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight trilogy Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises.
- July 17: Nolan classics Inception and Interstellar, plus Jaws, Iron Man, Bohemian Rhapsody, the 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast, and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy.
July 24 will mark the first new major studio release with Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan, with Nolan’s Tenet to follow on July 31.
It remains to be seen, however, if those will hold.
COVID-19 cases are spiking in various states and regions across the country, including California. In that state alone, cases jumped from 4,230 new infections reported on Sunday June 21 to 7,149 reported on Tuesday June 23. That’s a staggering 69% jump in just two days. An immediate fallout of that spike has been the reopening of Disneyland; originally scheduled for July 17, that has again been delayed indefinitely.
If California Governor Gavin Newsom re-implements strict shutdowns, quarantines, and stay-at-home orders, that could jeopardize Hollywood’s already-thin summer slate. It’s hard imagining studios going forward with major blockbuster releases if California citizens can’t go to them.