LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc, the world’s largest movie theater operator, will reopen its Los Angeles locations, starting with two theaters on Monday, the company said in a statement Friday.
Movie theaters in Los Angeles County, home of Hollywood and the largest movie theater market in the United States, have been closed for the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Local authorities gave them permission to resume operations from 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 March 19.
Los Angeles is the largest market for AMC in terms of 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 hope the public will return in the spring and summer as vaccines against the coronavirus become more widely distributed.
Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis