Are Cinemas Safe?

The wait is over! Our beloved cinemas are starting to open once more and showing some of the greatest films to ever grace the big screen – of course it lured me back! But are the cinemas safe and how has our ‘new normal’ effected the movie-going experience?

I went to Showcase Cinemas (Reading) and experienced Interstellar on the big screen for the first time! This intergalactic masterpiece from the wonder that is Christopher Nolan is set against the context of a dying Earth and in a final bid to save it secret government branch NASA create a plan. Their hope is placed in one team piloted by Cooper (Mathew McConaughey)! Cooper is convinced to leave his family and home in the hope of saving his children - his son and his daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy (Young Murph) and then the older Jessica Chastain). Brand (Anne Hathaway) and himself take the rest of the crew of the Endurance on a venture through wormholes escaping black holes in the process. Whether you are space obsessed or love a beautifully shot epic story, this is for you!

Seeing this film in the dark on the wall-to-wall screen as our seats vibrated felt like I was seeing the amazing movie for the first time! The bass was turned up to max and the Hans Zimmer soundtrack ebbed and flowed around us in an amazing brilliant web. The music and the cinematography are just gobsmacking! It is brilliant to be able to see a Christopher Nolan film where it belongs instead of on a little laptop screen. I left with goose bumps – a true testament to Showcase’s ‘Fall in Love with Cinema’ scheme.

The big question is of course whether the cinema is safe? I am so happy to say that it is. The film times are staggered so that a maximum of 20 people in the lobby being directed through to the film’s auditorium. And hand sanitiser is in abundance! The 2-metre social distance system is in operation and there are only a few seats in all rows that can be used. We found we had our own row. It felt like we had the cinema to ourselves. The entire process felt controlled and incredibly safe which meant that we could sit back to being blown away by cinema on the big screen.

So far Showcase is the only cinema open and is limited to certain locations – mostly London and big towns or cities. Vue, Cineworld and Odeon are all scheduled to open at the end of July! In the meantime, high tail it down to your local Showcase for a fantastic and safe experience. For just £5 films from Nolan and Spielberg to a good-old romantic comedy are on offer. My long love affair with cinema flared up again sat in those leather seats – I dare you not to.

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Written by George Marshall and Isobella Norman

Edited by Isobella Norman