4 Star Cinema in Kilgore is preparing to reopen in June.

KILGORE — Kilgore’s 4 Star Cinema won’t be opening back up until June 5, owner Byron Berkley said.

Although Gov. Greg Abbott has allowed movie theaters to reopen under 25% capacity rules, Berkley said he decided to stay closed for several reasons.

The first is his theater can’t justify opening with that limited capacity. Berkley said the number of seats available would hardly be worth the time to open. Another is the uncertainty of what the public’s attitude will be about gathering in a venue such as a movie theater.

The third reason is the lack of new movies.

“All of the first-run pictures that we normally play have been moved to later in the year, and the very first new first run motion picture that will be available for theatrical distribution is not scheduled until July 17, and that picture is the Christopher Nolan picture called ‘Tenet,’ ” Berkley said.

“Prior to that time, any theaters that open will be playing old pictures, either ones that they’ve already played, or classic pictures that they’ve pulled out of a repertory inventory,” he said. “And we don’t feel that those pictures are going to have much appeal since all of them are available now streaming on television.”

Opening in June will give the theater six weeks before the first major film is released, and Berkley said older movie will be shown during that time.

“We’re not sure what the reaction will be, but we’re gonna take a chance with that and see,” he said. “And then, of course, we don’t know what the state restrictions will be at that time, whether they will be loosened up even further, and if they are, and the governor has decided to allow us to operate with 50 percent capacity, that will improve the situation, and of course make it a little bit more practical to be open.”

When his theater does reopen, Berkley said it will obey the current government guidelines.

“We will have all of the necessary guidance signs in place telling people to stand 6 feet apart,” he said. “Our employees will be wearing masks and gloves, and we will be sanitizing all of the hard surfaces on a regular basis throughout the day when we are open. We’ll be sanitizing all of the seats in the auditoriums in between shows, and we will be selling tickets based on the requirements that people not sit more than 6 feet closer to one another, or whatever the current existing requirement may be at that time.”

Although the theater is closed, it has been selling concessions. People can call in orders or just drive through, and an employee will come out to take the order and then bring it out.

“That’s been generally very successful,” Berkley said. “It fluctuates a little bit from day to day and the weather and so forth, but overall, it’s allowed us to keep employees on the payroll and to pay them, so we find in that sense it has worked out satisfactorily.”

Representatives with Regal Longview & RPX and AMC Longview 10 did not respond to questions about when those theaters would reopen.