BUFFALO, N.Y. — Just hours after Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that movie theaters will be able to reopen, Western New York area theaters are already starting to announce their plans.
The North Park Theater in North Buffalo teased on its Facebook that it will show Hocus Pocus next week. The Screening Room in Amherst also wrote on Facebook that it will tentatively reopen on Friday, October 23, the first day that movie theaters are allowed to reopen.
Movie theaters will be allowed to operate if they are in counties that have a rolling 14-day average of positive COVID-19 tests below two percent and in areas without any cluster zones. Theaters have to follow a specific set of guidelines, which includes reducing capacity to 25 percent, with no more than 50 people per screen.
Currently, the only Western New York counties that will not be allowed to have open movie theaters are: Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua.
Small-town movie theaters are also anxious to open again. In Wyoming County, Warsaw's Spotlight Theater posted that it seems it "will be able to open for real on October 23rd!" It had previously announced it would be allowing private rentals of the theater for small groups to watch Netflix or a movie of their choice.
For more information on Governor Cuomo's new guidelines for movie theaters, click here.