By Hoai-Tran Bui/Aug. 18, 2020 12:30 pm EST
“In closing indoor movie theater operations, Defendants are promoting the significant governmental interest of protecting public health by keeping closed areas that present heightened risks for COVID-19 transmission,” Martinotti wrote.
The injunction was sought out by NATO, the main lobbying group for movie theaters, as well as six cinema chains, which banded together to argue that the state was discriminating against them by allowing churches to remain open while theaters were ordered to close. The theaters filed the suit on July 7, hoping to get a ruling in their favor that would pressure other states to reopen. Despite warnings from experts, theaters are planning to reopen by the end of August, for new releases like New Mutants and Tenet. But the state had argued that theaters posed a unique risk because of the difficulty to enforce a mask mandate. Martinotti upheld the state’s arguments as a “rational basis” for the order.
The highly anticipated Warner Bros. tentpole Tenet is being eyed as the blockbuster that will reopen theaters (despite 20th Century’s New Mutants being offered as the first sacrificial lamb) and re-energize the businesses of exhibition chains, which have been forced to close their locations since late March. But with cases spiking across the U.S., and several states like New Jersey holding firm to shutdown plans, it’s unclear how many theaters can reopen, especially in major markets like New York and California. Currently, Maryland, North Carolina and New Mexico also have no plans to reopen theaters.
Meanwhile, the nation’s largest theater chain, AMC Theaters, begins reopening its theaters with the premiere of New Mutants on August 26, 2020. Just not in New Jersey.
