I go up the escalator and feel a mixture of disbelief and excitement. I am one of the 130 people who have tickets for this Saturday in the only open cinema In Buenos Aires city, after almost a year with all the rooms closed. I am reaching the first floor of the Showcase complex, in Belgrano.
That same mix of sensations generated the news in general. For those who enjoy going to the movies, the reopening of Buenos Aires cinemas this weekend came as a rumor that should not be deluded: the desire to return it was directly proportional to the discomfort that would come if in the end you had to keep waiting.
That rumor later surprised, when it became data: on Thursday it was learned that Cines Showcase would reopen its Belgrano, Norte (IMAX included), Haedo and Quilmes complexes this Saturday. Finally came the joy and excitement, when the same chain announced it on Friday on its Instagram account.
“When I find out, I screamed”Says Natalia (38), sound engineer, who arrived at the show this Saturday afternoon a few minutes before the writer. For now, she is the only inhabitant of this room where the Spanish horror film “Malasaña 32”, by Albert Pintó, shot in Madrid, will be screened.
The spectators of this Saturday wanted to return to the cinema to rediscover the unique charm of seeing a movie on the big screen. Photo Enrique García Medina
Seeing a city that is not your own on the big screen is the closest thing to traveling for those who did not do it due to the pandemic. Listening to the sounds of a movie 10 meters from the seat and 15 from that screen is another luxury that has not been enjoyed for too long.
After a few minutes, a couple arrives in the room, popcorn and soda in hand: they will not stop eating or talking throughout the performance. Because the cinema also has that, coexistence, sometimes complicated, for a year missed.
Because even those annoyances can be missed, the folklore of the “Shh!”, the “Turn off the cell phone!”, the “Can’t you speak lower?”. Even the frigid temperature in the rooms, a curse for the cold, can now be enjoyed.
Living with other viewers is part of the experience of going to the cinema. Photo Enrique García Medina
It is that air conditioning is today more key than ever: injecting air from the outside and extracting the interior is essential to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. A ventilation system that the complex already had, which allowed it to open before other chains. Now you have ionizers that purify the air. High-efficiency filters help you get the job done.
Watching a horror movie is always scary, but doing it in the cinema expands the fear in quantity and quality. Because it’s a bigger screen, a higher volume, a surround sound. But it is also being in the dark, no technological distractions, with your attention focused on that creaking door, that ghost that suddenly appears, that image that pounces and makes you shrink in the seat.
There are no markings on the seats that prohibit sitting, but in the middle of the movie, an employee enters the room. Walk the aisle between seats, back and forth. Check that the chinstrap is on if you are not drinking or eating, and that there is at least one row of seats between one spectator and another. Except, of course, that the spectators have bought the ticket in the same operation and arrived at the cinema together.
The cinema employees make sure that everyone wears a chinstrap. Photo Enrique García Medina
Finish the movie. Another employee of the cinema arrives, with a spray in one hand and a map of the occupied seats in the other. Having been only four spectators, it goes straight to the seats we occupy and sprays quaternary ammonium. If you have time, you will spread the same solution with an industrial spray machine, a long hose, and two wheels. The same is done, with time or without time, after the functions with more attendees.
The ticket can be bought at the ticket office, but it is advisable to do it online: this way you avoid using physical means of payment and you also get a 25% discount. The general ticket, then, goes from $ 680 to $ 510 if it is acquired in allhowcase.com.
They can only be purchased up to six entries at a time: that’s the maximum capacity of the bubbles in the room. In other words, there cannot be more than six people together, who have acquired the tickets in the same operation.
Up to six tickets are sold at a time. This Saturday, at the Belgrano Showcase there were many family groups. Photo Enrique García Medina
If a larger group wants to go to the same function, they can do so, but must buy the tickets in more than one operation. And separate by at least two seats if your tickets were purchased in different purchases.
Online there are also 2×1, at $ 340. Even advance tickets for two premieres: “Tenet” and “Raya and the last dragon”, which can also be purchased at the physical box office. Online it is even possible to buy the classic combo of popcorn and soda or other foods from the Candy Bar, and then withdraw on the spot without having to touch cash or cards.
Once at the complex, the procedure is standard: taking body temperature and applying alcohol upon admission. There are also dispensers with alcohol on all floors of the complex. And the floor marked to line up to enter the room. The entrance has a barcode and employees are very careful not to touch it when scanning it with the electronic reader. Ticket can be printed on the spot or displayed directly on the cell phone.
Tickets can be printed or shown directly from the cell phone. Photo Enrique García Medina
This Saturday there were 28 performances scheduled at Showcase Belgrano, between 3:20 pm and midnight. Much less than the usual ones, since time lapse between movies was increased to avoid crowds at the entrance and, in addition, to facilitate the sanitization of the rooms before and after each projection.
Showcase is the only chain of cinemas that opens this weekend in the City. Cinemark Hoyts does so on Wednesday, while Multiplex will open on Thursday. Cinépolis, meanwhile, announced that it will return soon, although it did not indicate when.
In the next few days more cinemas will open in the City. Photo Enrique García Medina
Nor did they give precise dates from the traditional Lorca Cinema on Corrientes Avenue: it depends on how long it takes them to adapt the facilities to comply with the sanitary protocol. But they hope that the reopening will also be this Thursday and they announced that they will screen the premieres “Tenet” and “Raya and the last dragon”, and a classic by Federico Fellini: “8½”.
Showcase Belgrano has capacity for 2,000 spectators. By protocol, it can only admit 30%, that is, 600. This Saturday afternoon, they are 130 who bought tickets, although there are still some more functions. Little for a day like this, a lot when until yesterday there was nothing. One small step for the cinema complex, one big leap for the film industry in general.
NS
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source https://pledgetimes.com/cinema-is-back-the-reunion-with-the-big-screen-and-the-pleasure-of-watching-a-horror-movie-with-surround-sound/
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