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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. One of the things we're doing this week is checking in with various arts and entertainment sectors in our area to see how they're starting to come back or planning to come back when the time is right. We're starting right now with the movies because movie theaters in New York City were allowed to reopen this weekend. Some did and some did not. The AMC chain theaters, yes. The Regal Cinema chain theaters, no. The Nighthawk dine-in theaters and Williamsburg and Prospect Park, yes. The Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Brooklyn, no. The iconic Film Forum around the corner from the WNYC studios did not open. The equally iconic Art House IFC center, just a few blocks away on Sixth Avenue by the West Fourth Street, Greenwich Village subway stop, did. We'll talk now about what that was like with the general manager of the IFC Center, John Vanko. John, thanks for coming on with us. Welcome to WNYC.

John Vanco: My pleasure. Good morning.

Brian: Listeners, we can take some phone calls too. Did you go to the movies in New York City this weekend? If so, what was that like? 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280. Or if you've gone elsewhere in the area outside the city where they've been allowed to reopen movie theaters for a few months, same question, what's that been like? 646-435-7280. Listeners, were you nervous from a COVID standpoint? How did they space the seats? Did they sell popcorn or other food and drink that would make people take off their masks? I hear that some theaters did and some theaters didn't? Did they make announcements about any special air filtration or anything else they had installed? If you went once, would you go back?

Has COVID time made you care more about coming to the movies because you missed the big screen experience, or make you care less, because you can see all these first [unintelligible 00:02:05] films right at home now, who bought a 90-inch television so you don't have to go to the movies anymore? But mostly, did you go to the movies in New York City this weekend? If so, what was that like? 646-435-72-80. Or if you've gone in the suburbs, where the theaters have been open a little longer, same question, 646-435-7280. John, why did you decide to open this weekend at IFC Center, and what did it take to get the place and the staff ready?

John: Well, we were certainly surprised a bit last Monday with the announcement from the state that we'd be allowed to open on the 5th of March, but we were excited. We kept our staff pretty close to us throughout the shutdown, and so we were in a position to pivot fairly quickly. It was still definitely a sprint to get everything set in terms of the programming and training of our staff, but we wanted to do it is as soon as we were able. Some people have been complaining about, "How can you make money on 25% capacity, et cetera?" But from my perspective, 25% is a heck of a lot better than closed, and so it was a bit of a no-brainer.

Our audiences, I would say, we're tentatively enthusiastic. Everybody was pretty happy to be there, but with everybody masked up and certainly much less socializing, and everybody's seated far apart from each other. The lead-in to the main event is a little different than it used to be, but the movies themselves are the same, and I think everybody had a great time.

Brian: I think we've got one of your customers on the line. Karen in Brooklyn. Hi, Karen, you're on WNYC. You went to the IFC Center yesterday?

Karen: Hi, Brian. Yes, I did. I was there with bells on. Actually went on Saturday, and I saw MLK/FBI. It was wonderful to be there. There was only two other people in the theater with me. It's a small theater, but it was just great. I've got to say also, because it's award season, and a lot of these films that are up for awards, you've got to subscribe to a streaming service to see them and I don't want to subscribe to another streaming service just to see one movie. I'm very excited that they're available. I love the IFC. I've always gone there. I missed having popcorn and soda, but we've got to be safe. I understand that. I'm thrilled that they're open. I'm going to be back out next weekend, and I just can't wait until more people can come. I just want to thank them for doing it.

Brian: Great. Karen, thank you very much. John, it sounds like you did not sell food and drink yesterday or this weekend, right?

John: That's right. We've been tracking. It's been a weird dynamic over the past nine months of us all learning what's safe and what's not and a lot of people are nervous about indoor dining. There's been a little bit of a stigma attached to some movie theaters for people because of the exception, the mask exception, if have popcorn, you can have your mask off, and eat and drink, and that bothers some people. It doesn't bother others. It's certainly allowed by the state.

What we decided to do is we surveyed our members, we have several thousand members, and we got hundreds of detailed responses back to our survey. We found that for our membership, and this is, again, not the same for everybody, but for our membership, they were pretty vocal about being more comfortable if they could forego concessions, which would mean that they could have confidence that everybody around them would have their masks on at all times. It makes things more complicated financially but this is a phase and we look forward to things becoming more dense and more busy in the future but for now, we want to do something that's going to make everybody feel comfortable, not just the adventurous ones.

Brian: John, in Toms River, you're on WNYC. Hi, John.

John: Hi. Yes, we went to the movies this weekend, and it was great. We saw Nomadland, and it was great to see it on the big screen. I think there was three or four other people in the entire theater. But of course, there were other little family groups going to see some of the more popular animation and stuff, and one older couple, as we were walking out, asked us how the film was. We said we loved it, and they were eating a huge barrel of popcorn.

Brian: Did you say it was an AMC Theater?

John: AMC.

Brian: In Toms River?

John: It's called the AMC Seacourt, it's in Toms River.

Brian: They were selling food. John, thank you very much. Boy, John Vanko, General Manager of IFC Center in the Village, you can hear the excitement in the people's voice who have been calling in so far. Did you get to experience this yourself? Were you at the theater on Friday for the first showing, and could you feel an atmosphere of change, moods brightening, as soon as the first previews came on, or anything like that?

John: It's weird because it's been almost exactly a year, and I think we're all looking for little grass shoots out of the snow, a light at the end of the tunnel that's not an oncoming train. We're all optimistic that things are going in the right direction, and as we come out of this long, cold, snowy winter, we benefited from people being excited about going back to the movies being a sign of a new normal is headed our way. I was there on Friday when we opened and people were thrilled.

We've also engaged a lot of filmmakers. All the movies we're playing are preceded by an exclusive video introduction by the director. For MLK/FBI, we had Sam Pollard welcoming people back to IFC Center, and then actually on Friday night, Spike Lee and Delroy Lindo, from Da 5 Bloods who hadn't had a chance to see their movie on the big screen, they came for their main show, and actually popped up on stage to introduce it, because this was the moment that all these filmmakers have been denied. They haven't had the normal chance to go present their movies at festivals and opening weekends. Since that's something that we always focus on, is connecting filmmakers with audiences for Q&As and so forth, and we can't do that now, we've heard from a lot of filmmakers who are really thrilled as well. I think it's definitely a moment of good spirits.

Brian: Shannon in Greenpoint. You're on WNYC. Hi, Shannon.

Shannon: Hi. Wow, this is crazy. I'm here to say, I went to go see My Zoe at Quad on Friday night. I was super excited. I've been waiting a year. The movie was so bad, but I didn't even care. There were five people in the theater. I still got shushed by the people sitting in front of me, which is amazing. I missed that. Got a lot of the New York shushing and I'm super excited that movies are back.

Brian: Wait, you mean you talk at the movies all the time and people keep having to shush you?

Shannon: Brian, I can't help it. I was so excited to

be back. I can't help that I had to explain how nice it was to be seeing previews. It was awesome. I'm convinced there was someone in the back of the theater filming. Good job on him, I had no idea who he was. He was completely covered with a mask. Amen. Thank you to Quad, who I've always loved, and I think has a great film program. They always show great stuff.

Brian Lehrer: Shannon, thank you. Thank you so much, and shhh. John Vanco from IFC Center, our callers have been saying, two people in the movie theater, your customers said that for MLK/FBI. Shannon said nine. Nicola from Toms River said there were just a few people in the theater. Is this because it's not selling out, or with the spacing requirements, is that your capacity?

John Vanco: Yes. The spacing requirements-- it's fairly straightforward in that it's 25% of normal capacity, but it actually gets a little more complicated because the way most of the reserved seating systems work that if a single person buys a ticket, it Xs out the seats around them, and so effective capacity can be a lot less.

In any case, we sold out more than a third of our shows over the weekend. The vibe of lines down the block and crowded, chaotic energy of an opening night at the movies in New York City, that wasn't there, but there was still people there. Like I say, we're happy to work with the 25% for the beginning, and we filled up more than a third of those shows. It's a start and we'll look forward to that percentage creeping up.

Brian Lehrer: Last question then in our last minute. You open, some of the other art film theaters did not feel they could open. What was the difference? Did you have to do any renovations or add filtration or something like that that convinced you it was safe to open, and some other theaters can't do that? What was the difference between you and maybe Film Forum, or some of the others I mentioned that didn't feel they could open this weekend?

John Vanco: Well, I think there are a bunch of factors. One is that the release schedules from the studios are pretty, pretty slight. There aren't a lot of brand-new movies to open. I'm sure that was a factor for some. I know places like the Film Forum, they're going to open as soon as they can. We talked to a bunch of our colleagues at other theaters the week before last when the announcement happened, and we were all ready to go last summer.

In the very beginning, with the phases announced by the state, movie theaters were supposed to open on July 20th, then it kept getting pushed back, but we all could read the tea leaves and saw what was happening in other states. We all upgraded to Merv 13 filters, and we all started figuring out reserved seating and 25% meet seat maps. We were all ready for that last summer and early last fall, but I think a lot of people were surprised when we saw that stadiums and arenas were reopening. A lot of people were surprised when indoor dining reopened. Once that started happening, we started to think, "Well, wait. Maybe we're not going to be waiting until May or June for movie theaters to reopen, maybe it's going to be sooner."

All these theaters had 10-days' notice and we were lucky because like I say, we kept our staff very close to us, and we were able to keep them on payroll for a long time. We were able to snap into action, but I think that the Film Society, Lincoln Center, and Film Forum, and Metrograph, they'll all be here before you know it and it'll be a vibrant scene at art house theaters across the city again very soon.

Brian Lehrer: Well, let's hope, and let's hope it's safe. We're going to have an epidemiologist later in the program. I'm going to ask her, among other things, the question about data from movie theaters, from places that have been open longer. John Vanco, general manager of IFC Center, congratulations on this weekend, and thanks for coming on with us.

John Vanco: Thanks for having me.

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