Weston King and JC Medillin walk from the concession stand to go see "The New Mutants" at Regal Cinemas in Tyler. The duo said that this was the first time they had gone out to see a movie since March, before the Coronavirus was wide-spread.

Movie theaters, shuttered for months amid the COVID-19 pandemic, have faced a season of uncertainty across America.

The industry, already described to be “hanging on by a thread” by some experts, was one of the hardest hit by closures and restrictions, with releases halted, festivals canceled, and premieres postponed.

Even in pre-pandemic times, cinematic exhibition was considered a “loss leader” in the movie industry.

Theaters have to pay for the rights to show the movies that they display on the big screen, and ticket prices often don’t allow theaters to recoup the money that they paid up front for those rights. To compensate up-front costs, theaters often charge expensive prices for their concessions, where theaters make a majority of their income.

When theaters were forced to close, that source of income fizzled into nothing. And the future of cinemas, here in Tyler and everywhere, lay in jeopardy.

As major theaters across Tyler reopen, that’s all begun to change.

Time Square Grand Slam has been open since the middle of the pandemic, Regal Cinema opened Aug. 21, and AMC in Tyler opened Aug. 28.

Inside the air-conditioned lobbies, the scent of fresh popcorn and the sight of movie-goers carting massive sodas and other concessions signals a return to normalcy.

“This is actually our first time coming (to the theater),” Regal Cinema movie-goer Weston King said. “It’s been like since March since the pandemic started since we’ve seen a movie. We’re pretty excited.”

Corporate AMC announced some of its theaters across the nation were going to be open on Aug. 21.

“There’s three different stages of opening,” AMC manager Joel Lee said. “(AMC) has over 600 theaters. They only opened up, more or less, their top 100 theaters.”

Tyler’s AMC theater is part of the “300 or 400” theaters that are included in the second stage of opening this weekend. As the largest national theater chain, AMC is enforcing strict health and sanitation policies for movie-goers.

Not only has the COVID-19 pandemic halted movie-going, it has also slowed movie release dates and production on multiple projects. Tentpole films such as Wonder Woman 1984, Black Widow, and No Time to Die have all been pushed back to late 2020, while some films have been pushed as far back as 2022. For local theaters, the lack of movies means fewer posters to display, but more space to display new COVID-19 policies.

“The biggest thing is that everyone has to have a mask, and it has to be a certain kind of mask,” Lee said. “We’ve got signage on poster boards where we show the new movies coming in, we don’t have a lot of new movies coming out, so we have room out there.”

Both Regal and AMC theaters require that the public wear a face mask while in the theater, with the exception of when the patron is eating or drinking. Neither of the theaters are allowing refills on popcorn or beverages. AMC holds a stricter mask policy that does not permit bandanas, gaiter masks or masks with ventilators.

Times Square does not require a mask like the other venues but relies on REME Halo air purification systems to keep bacteria and viruses at bay.

According to a Times Square Grand Slam spokesperson, the purification systems “kill over 99% of surface bacteria and viruses, 97% of air-born bacteria, and 99% of the microbes in a sneeze by the time it has traveled three feet.”

All three theaters have provided additional times between their showings for extra cleaning and have required extra spacing between seating and parties. Regal Cinemas specifically requires two seats between every group. Every other row of seats have been blocked off at Regal Cinema and AMC. All three theaters have minimized seating capacity. Regal and AMC have reduced their capacity to 30% of their seating, while Times Square Grand Slam has not specified their new capacity.

“I understand why they didn’t (open up earlier), because we were going up so fast in COVID numbers in Texas,” Medillin said. “I am happy they did because it gives us something else to do besides sitting at home not doing anything with quarantine and stuff, so I think they probably waited the amount of time that they needed to. I think they’re doing a good job.”

The two major movies that are coming out out this weekend are “Bill and Ted Face the Music” and “The New Mutants.”