AMC Theaters has detailed its plans to reopen movie theaters in the US, in addition to a new deadline for its MoviePass-style A-List subscription, sent in an email to customers on Wednesday.
Beginning Aug. 20, AMC plans to have more than 100 theaters open, and it says it will continue locations “so that about two-thirds of our theaters nationwide should not be open by September 3.” AMC has delayed its reopening several times because spread of the coronavirus in positive cases has caused massive spikes in parts of the US that have begun to limit.
The company, the largest theater chain in the country, operates about 600 theaters in the US. However, AMC has faced major challenges for its company in the entire COVID-19 pandemic due to forced closures and an almost standstill in Hollywood releases, causing AMC to work large swaths of its business life as it neared bankruptcy.
“The remaining AMC locations will open after we receive further clearance from state and local authorities that it is safe to do so,” the company wrote in an email sent to AMC A-List members. As part of its new safety measures, AMC says all staff and customers should wear masks, following a controversial remark by Adam Aron, CEO of AMC in June, in which he suggested that wearing masks among customers should be encouraged but not mandatory.
The email says customers “can expect continuous additional cleaning and disinfection of high-traffic areas,” that wipe sanitizer and disinfectant wipes would be widely available, and that AMC “will significantly limit seating capacity in our auditorium.” The company claims it will use “high tech HEPA vacuum cleaners” and “updated MERV 13 air filters, where possible.”
Among the films AMC has plans to screen as part of its remake include Disney’s The New Mutants with effect from 28 August and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet with effect from 3 September. “As far as library titles are concerned, we’ll be watching all these favorite movies on the big screens of AMC: Back to the future, Beauty and the Beast, Black panther, Bloodshot, Ghostbusters, Goonies, Gray, I still live, Jumanji: The Next Level, Sonic the stingray, en Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. ”
As for A-List, AMC’s subscription service that allows customers to watch a maximum of three movies per week, the company says current subscribers who had planned plans during the COVID-19 pandemic now have until December 1, 2020 to reactivate or cancel membership. From that day on, AMC says it will start charging customers again.
“Now, we have made it possible for you to check if your A-List membership is reactivated. You can choose to renew your A-List membership any time between now and December 1, 2020. We will send you an email when your favorite theater is open and then, and only if you feel ready to return to our theaters, just visit your account on our mobile app or website to reactivate your membership. Then you can start reserving A-List movies immediately, ”reads the email.
AMC says its customers can cancel at any time, and that they plan to communicate any changes to the subscription, including their plan to start charging again, “well in advance.” The company says it is making a number of other changes to its A-List subscription designed to give the company more control over price changes.
For one, AMC says it is reducing the window on which it can make “program changes”, in other words price increases, from 90 days to 30 days with effect from 1 December. It also denies the ability to earn reward points on the monthly subscription fee for A-List on that date. But AMC guarantees that it will not increase the price of A-List, which will cost anywhere from $ 19.95 to $ 23.95 per month depending on the market, until the spring of next year.
