The Ontario government announced most of the province will graduate to Stage 3 of pandemic reopening this Friday. The third phase includes the reopening of movie theatres.
But Sudbury film fans will have to wait a bit longer to go back to the movies.
Sudbury Indie Cinema director Beth Mairs is excited by the news, but wants to take time to ensure the safety of the public and staff at the cinema.
"While we have the green light from the province to open tomorrow, we are taking a measured approach of welcoming the public back into our venue in a manner that minimizes risks to our patrons, staff, volunteers and the larger Sudbury community," Mairs said.
The Indie will reopen on Aug. 13.
"This will be a soft re-launch with just two screenings daily running Thursdays to Sundays in August with plans to expand to a wider reopening in September assuming Sudbury doesn’t experience a setback," she said.
The Indie has already booked several top-notch films and will open with a screening of First Cow, which is currently only playing on the big screen in western Canada.
While the Indie has made plans to welcome back film goers in August, the other two movie theatres in Greater Sudbury aren't ready to reopen at this time.
Although the new limit of people allowed indoors was increased to 50 people, Imagine Cinemas Downtown Movie Lounge said they will not be reopening this week.
"We are hoping that the Ontario government changes their limit of 50 per location to a theatre basis with the plans for physical distancing that we have put in place," Imagine Cinemas COO Gina Facca said in an email to Sudbury.com.
Cineplex spokesperson Katie Rankin said SilverCity will also remain closed.
"We are still reviewing what's being proposed by the province, so as a result we aren't in a position to open our theatres in Ontario on Friday," Rankin said in an email to Sudbury.com.
"While we are certainly excited for the day our operations can resume, our top priority has always been the health and safety of our employees and guests and ensuring that their time with us is safe, comfortable and welcoming."
Indoor movie theatres may not be ready to open this week, but Sudbury's new pop-up drive-in theatre, Horizons Drive-in, will be showing movies all summer.
Every two weeks, the drive-in will return to Sudbury for showings on the weekend, but the travelling theatre will also be visiting Manitoulin Island, North Bay and Massey.
Here's what's playing at the drive-in this weekend at the New Sudbury Centre:
July 18
9 p.m. Grease
11 p.m. Central Intelligence
July 19
9 p.m. Grease
11 p.m. The Conjuring
Click here to purchase tickets.
