AMC theaters to start reopening in Los Angeles on Monday

[March 13, 2021]    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc, the world's largest cinema operator, will start reopening its Los Angeles locations starting with two theaters on Monday, the company said in a statement on Friday.

Guests wearing protective masks line up at AMC movie theatre in Lincoln Square, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 6, 2021. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo

Cinemas in Los Angeles County, the home of Hollywood and the largest moviegoing market in the United States, have been closed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Local authorities cleared them to resume operations again starting on Monday if they limited attendance to 25% capacity.

AMC said it would return to business starting with theaters in Burbank and Century City. The company plans to begin opening the rest of its theaters in the Los Angeles area, and elsewhere in California, starting on March 19.

Los Angeles is the largest market for AMC by number of theaters. The company has 56 theaters in California including 25 in Los Angeles County.

Movie theater chains and independent cinemas were devastated by the extended closures and are hoping that audiences will return in the spring and summer as coronavirus vaccines become more widely distributed.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.