Movie Theaters and COVID-19: How a Pandemic Made an Impact on Theaters in Westchester New York

COVID-19 has put the world on a hold. Everyone was stuck at home  with movies. When all of the mandatory shut downs happened places like movie theaters were the first to go. Now 18 months later the world is opening up again and some movie theaters, like a once popular theater in Bronxville, NY did not make it after the shut down of non essential businesses. 

This permanent shut down put many people out of work, including the former manager, Justin Bryant, who said,  “ I don’t think the movie theater would have closed. We had a lot of customers coming to see movies.” 

But that is not the case for Yonkers’ Showcase Cinema in Ridge Hill. When I spoke to the manager, who wanted to remain anonymous, she said although people were hesitant to come in at first, business had been up by ten to fifteen percent, and there are many COVID precautions in place including capping seating for each theater at 50 percent to maintain social distancing. 

“Everyone wants the movie going experience. They want to leave the house,” Bryant said.