As we take steps back to a new type of normality, our cinemas are reopening and we can begin to enjoy films on the big screen once again. It will differ, depending on which brand of movie house you choose. This follows on from the Government’s plan to ease lockdown measures, with pubs, hotels and bars now reopen.

Before we go on, we need to remind you that although Boris Johnson initially confirmed cinemas in England were able to reopen from July 4th, in line with the government relaxing a requirement for people who are indoors to stay two metres apart to “one metre plus” that did not yet apply to cinemas here in Wales as we were following a different lockdown plan.

The good news is, we can now start to enjoy the cinema again, with many people already booked in for the opening of TENET later this month (us included).

A lot of the cinema chains have special deals for their loyalty card holders and the Blue Light workers. Make sure you check each of our links.

Carol Welch is Odeon Cinemas Managing Director for the UK and Ireland.

“We are excited our UK cinemas are reopening.”

“We’ve carefully planned every step of our guest journey and put safety measures in place that will enable our highly trained colleagues to provide a controlled and safer cinema experience for all our guests.

“New measures include social distancing in our auditoriums and foyers, additional cleaning regimes, and a request to book tickets online prior to arrival.”

“We would like to thank our colleagues and guests for their patience during this period, and we can’t wait to welcome guests back to big screen entertainment and a safer cinema experience.”

Odeon say they have worked worked with the UK Cinema Association and the Government to introduce enhanced health and safety measures to each site.

New rules include a limit to the number of seats on sale for each showing and guaranteed unoccupied seats between guests for social distancing.

Families and social bubbles will be allowed to sit together.

As a huge thank you, ODEON is offering Blue Light Card members a free pair of ODEON cinema tickets through till 25th August.

The tickets are first come first served and with a limited number available each week, get yours now!

• BLC members need to log into your account and visit the ODEON free tickets offer, and request a pair of free cinema ticket vouchers.
• The vouchers will then appear on screen and will also be sent in an email. They will also be saved in your Blue Light Card member account area where you can access the codes until they expire.

Here in Wales however, the reopening is on the 21st. Nick Price is the Manager of the Odeon, Cardiff.

“We are delighted to announce this ODEON will reopen its doors from 21st August, and you can book tickets now. We’ve made lots of changes to create a new safer cinema experience for you, and we look forward to welcoming you back. These measures will be in place in our cinemas for your safety, well being and enjoyment”

To see what they are up to and what releases will be playing, go here. ODEON

VUE will a phased reopening from early August with measures in place, including physically isolating family groups through the online booking systems and staggering film times to maintain social distancing and operate responsibly.

CEO Tim Richards said…….

“We are ready and we welcome the reopening of cinemas”

“By the time we reopen in the UK our methods will have been responsibly and robustly deployed in the real world. We have learned how to do this from our operations in Taiwan where we never closed and have successfully operated through pandemics such as SARS in the past; and from our sites in Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Poland and Lithuania where we have recently and successfully reopened to the public.”

We’re not quite there in South Wales as yet. If you take a look at their site, you can see which films we can expect when reopen ing happens. VUE

SHOWCASE have reopened some of their cinemas, with extra safety measure in place such as PPE for its staff, allowing customers into the auditoriums for limited times and offering wipes and sanitiser.

Showcase is also using staggered start times and limiting the capacity for screenings to spread demand. People will be encouraged to use face masks wherever possible.

They will also disinfect seats using an anti-viral fogging machine that eliminates airborne viruses on contact. It plans to install perspex shields at till points.

Showcase tell us they are encouraging us back with £5 tickets for a run of classic films, leading up to this summer’s blockbusters.

Already open are the Showcase Cinema de Lux locations at Nottingham, Peterborough, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Teesside, Glasgow, Paisley, Coventry, Bluewater, Southampton, Derby, Bristol and Reading, along with Showcase Cardiff Nantgarw, Newham, Walsall and Dudley

Showcase Bristol Avonmeads and Derby Foresters will reopen on August 21st. More information will follow in due course regarding Showcase Manchester

To get the very latest, go here. SHOWCASE

CINEWORLD have said they will be opening it’s cinemas across Wales today (August 14th) but Friars Walk in Newport will not due to what they claim are “unreasonable terms from the landlord”.

“Cineworld Newport Friars Walk will not be reopening at this point”.

“We hope to welcome you at our cinema in Newport Spytty Park instead which will be reopening this Friday. Unfortunately Cineworld Friars Walk will not be opening just yet, due to unreasonable terms from the landlord.”

“We are pleased however to announce that all of our other cinemas in Wales will be re-opening this Friday, August 14. We are excited to be opening our doors once again and welcoming the people of Wales back to Cineworld, the best place to watch a movie.”

Simon Pullen, Managing Director of Friars Walk, stated he was…….

“Unaware of the cinema’s plans not to reopen on Friday.”

Nationally, Cineworld said recently of the reopening…….

‘In line with recent changes to upcoming film release dates, we are planning to re-open some of our cinemas. We hope that we will be able to re-open the doors of all Cineworld cinemas across the UK and Ireland at that time, however upcoming re-openings remain subject to final clarifications and confirmation in relation to various government COVID-19 restrictions.‘

The UK’s largest chain of cinemas pushed back its scheduled reopening date by three weeks, in response to further delays to the opening of key titles such as Mulan and Tenet.

We can tell you however, that you can make a booking, here in South Wales, for TENET.

To see what Cineworld are up to, go here. CINEWORLD

The PICTUREHOUSE chain in the UK, which incidentally is now owned by Cineworld, is pretty much fully reopen. Following the new government guidelines, face coverings are now compulsory in our Picturehouse cinemas in England.

Check out the Picturehouse site right here. PICTUREHOUSE

In the meantime, if you’d like to see what we can expect on our big screens this summer, take a look at our special feature, right here. BLOCKBUSTERS