Coronavirus -- Are Theaters Safe?

I love movies, and I love seeing them in theaters. There's something magical about watching big pictures on a screen and pretending you're part of the action. I love enjoying the scenery and the music, and the fun stories. It's escapism at its best.

But with the coronavirus running rampant, are they safe? And can movies operate in reduced capacities?

I went to the local Grand Theater -- IMAX to watch Tenet a couple of weeks ago, and it was a blast. When I bought the tickets online, we weren't allowed to pick any seats within 2 seats away from another group -- most likely to provide 6 feet distance. However, I also noticed that I could buy a seat directly behind another group. 6 feet? Maybe, with the reclined seats. But still, it seemed kind of close.

I intentionally picked a non-busy night -- I believe it was Monday, so as to have the fewest number of people in the theater. I think we had 15 total in the room ... so we were mildly successful in this regard. We also went when case counts were relatively low in our area -- it was moderately low.

Masks were required, except when you consumed refreshments, which I personally think is the stupidest thing (much as in restaurants). As soon as you take off your masks, the aerosols you breathe out disperse in greater quantities, and the damage is done -- they can float around the room to infect others (assuming the non-mask wearer has COVID19). Allowing for the masks to come off for any reason increases the chances of spread considerably.

A couple of dudes who sat directly diagonally behind me to the right wore their masks to get into the theater, but then as soon as they sat down, the masks came off for the entire movie. They probably thought, "If we can take off our masks to eat refreshments, there's no reason not to wear them at all." It's actually good logic, but unfortunately, taking off the masks allows for more spread ... period.

My wife also noticed that the doors to the theater were open the entire time. This is kind of a plus, as airflow has been shown to fight aerosols, so the more flow, the better. However, I doubt that one open door significantly increased airflow in the theater. Perhaps the high ceiling allowed the aerosols to spread out more and thin out, but I think gravity tends to keep them relatively low. I didn't notice any considerable airflow -- so, I figure any existing virus aerosols were allowed to hover indefinitely. Most likely, airflow would cause a sound that could distract from the movie.

The lower head count does indeed decrease the chances of spread, just because of probability. Even though it bugged me that those dudes weren't wearing masks, the mathematician in me knew that the chances that those specific two had the virus was moderately low ... 10% or less. But put 50 or more people in a room, chances are actually pretty high that at least one of them is carrying the virus. If an area has 5 out of 100 people infected, then out of 50 random people there would be a 93% chance that one of them has the virus.

Now that case counts have increased significantly since then, I would not do this again ... not now, and probably not again until April or May next year, unless the vaccines bring down cases much more quickly -- we'll see.

But on the other hand, I don't wish to see the death of these theaters. I know they're struggling. Tenet was an experiment to try to get people back into the theaters. I'm certainly glad I caught it in the theater -- it was worth it, but I'm not sure how successful the experiment has been. It was released 9/3, and earned $20.2M domestic its first week. And it maintained its #1 spot for 5 weeks, ending with $2.7M domestic that last week. (It's hard to imagine $2.7M being #1 for the week!) I caught it in its 6th week ... shortly after it finally came to our theater. Now, it's still in the theaters, and still earning money ... up to $55.1M domestic and $354M worldwide (China's much more open now that they've got control over the virus than we do). I wonder if Tenet could earn even more money in a rerelease after the pandemic has ended.

Has it helped theaters? I hear that Tenet required a larger chunk of the sales, and I think with reduced seating, theaters aren't making anywhere near as much as they were this time last year.

The only good news is that we're going to have several movies waiting for us when the pandemic ends. Maybe the theaters can recoup some of our hard-earned cash. We'll see!