Galaxy Cinemas in Prince Albert. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Now showing

Galaxy Cinemas reopens doors in Prince Albert

Aug 14, 2020 | 3:00 PM

After a nearly five-month hiatus, movie goers in Prince Albert can once get their fix of fresh buttery popcorn, while watching the latest Hollywood movie on a massive screen.

Friday’s opening of the Galaxy Cinemas in Prince Albert, marks the last Cineplex theatre to open in Saskatchewan. Other locations have been open anywhere from three to six weeks. Sarah Van Lange, Executive Director of Communications, Community and social media at Cineplex, told paNOW the theatre chain is really pleased with the response from movie goers to the reopenings.

“Obviously our business is not at the levels they were pre-pandemic and fundamentally we have reduced our capacity from 60 to 80 per cent,” she said.

In terms of what someone can expect when they go to a movie this weekend, or in the coming weeks, is a number of COVID-19 related safety protocols including additional signage at the door, enhanced cleaning, reserved seating, and every other row of seating will be vacant.

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“You’ll have no one sitting in front of you, no one sitting beside you, and there will be usually three seats on either side of you that will also be vacant,” Van Lange said. “So it might take a little longer to get to your seat but once you are in your seat, the magic of the big screen is still there.”

For the time being movie goers are encouraged to buy their tickets online or through the Cineplex app. Van Lange said people can still buy tickets at the concession if required.

Another key part of the theatre experience is the food, and Van Lange said most serving protocols already were in line with COVID-19 precautions.

“The handling of cash and the handling of food, all of those heath and safety features, were already in place pre-pandemic so there wasn’t a lot of tweaks with respect to food service,” she said.

The movies

With the opening Friday, the first movies to play at Galaxy Cinemas are the Spongebob movie, Unhinged starring Russell Crowe, and Inception, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

“Its an important day because it’s the first time in five months we’re seeing new releases back on the big screen,” Van Lange said.

To date there are 136 Cineplex locations open across Canada. The remainder are expected to be open by next week.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell