The Moviegoers Guide To The Pandemic: A Night At The Theater During COVID-19.
As an avid movie goer, I had been to the theater thousands of times during my life...and that might even be an understatement. I love the social experience, and let's be honest- who doesn't love the smell of popcorn, the sticky floors, the huge screen and the way the seats rumble with the incredible acoustics of the theatre? It's part of life for me and the "normalcy" we had...up until March. When Covid-19 became a thing and the world started to close down including the one place I loved the most...to say I was sad would be the understatement of the decade.
Its been a VERY long quarantine for me. I have a wonderful, amazing family including a supportive, hard-working husband and two *twitch* AMAZING children who I love with all of my heart, but after what felt like more time in lockdown than I had spent actually pregnant, something was going to give. My husband and I decided to have a discussion, make a pact and find a babysitter- it was date night time.
It's been 8 months and the theaters near me finally opened again with heavy safety precautions and I was ready to take whatever measures I had to that would get me back into that cushy seat and stuffing popcorn and candy into my face.
I purchased tickets to see New Mutants because I had been waiting 2 years to see this movie after it was pushed back several times. Honestly I thought I would never get to see it.
My husband and I bought our tickets online and hired a baby sitter (my mother because lets face it who has money for babysitters right now) and were so excited to get back to having a normal date night without our kids.
When we arrived to the theater, it was very empty- no more then a dozen people, everyone was wearing masks and there were hand sanitizing stations set up for your convenience. Nice touch since I'm a bit of a germaphobe anyway(please don't point out the irony of this article lol).
We bought our popcorn and various snacks (I went totally overboard because it was my first time back and I was too excited lol). We headed into theatre 12 and got to our seats, the way the theatre set up the social distancing was that they grouped seats by 4s and then had at least 3 seats between parties. That gives about 9-10ft between you and a party in your row. Not bad.
In total there was about 10 people in the whole theatre and to be honest I wouldn't complain if they left it like this forever. I wore my mask for the entire movie (it was not a requirement by the theater) and only took it off to eat.
Here are some tips:
Just bring an extra mask in-case. This is just so that if you get fake butter on it or you fumble it while holding popcorn, soda and 67 boxes of candy you're not left face-naked.
Get there earlier than usual, JUST so you can pick out prime seating. I really like the middle of the theater but depending on the size, I'll opt for the way back.
Buy your tickets ahead of time, and try to pay with tap pay or debit card. Everyone is trying to handle as little as possible with humans of all shapes, sizes and cleanliness habits coming in and out of the theater.
Please for the love of Galactus...be nice to the people working, moreso than usual. They're putting their health on the line for your ability to sit and mock cinematography when you have no experience.
Clean up after yourself.
Actually, that's probably how everyone should always act when at the movies-pandemic or not.
The movie itself was amazing and if you have been waiting as long as I have to see New mutants then you wont be disappointed.
Its exactly what you would be expecting for a dark X-Men movie, great special effects, some jump scares, violence and great special effects.
I don't want to give too much away because I want everyone to go in fresh, but I was VERY happy with what I saw on the screen, a big change from the usual Marvel movie.
(This movie isn't part of the MCU btw)
All in all the first trip back to the movies was a huge success. Unfortunately for us our theater has already shut down once again in an attempt to slow the spread of Covid by our mayor. I am hoping that they will open once again so we can go back, because I really cant live a life without trips to the movies.
In case you haven't been able to keep up with the on-and-off story of New Mutants actually becoming a reality in the cinematic world, check out the official trailer below.
If you're reading this, have you been to the theater since sparse re-openings amidst the pandemic?
I'd like to hear your stories and thoughts on this.
Please leave a comment below or tag me on Twitter at @ChyFiKP!
-Chy Squicciarini, Staff-Writer for Kulture Popped, Sci-Fi nut and vinyl record collector