Century cinema reopens with only 5 people on the first day

Kampala, Uganda| AFP |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Century Cinemax in Acacia Mall reopened its doors to movie lovers on Friday with strong guidelines on hygiene and physical distancing. Century Cinemax was among the first business close in March because of the corona virus disease.

Despite running promotional adverts for the whole of last week, only five people showed up on Friday when Century Cinemax resumed operations. The management of the Cinema says that they are using global cinema standards where families and couples will seat together an adjacent seat empty for purposes of social distancing to avoid the spread of corona virus.

The cinema will also admit only 390 people instead of 780 people to observe social distancing guidelines.  Lorrainne Oguttu, the Spokesperson Century Cinemax says they are hopeful that the number of movie goers will increase over the weekend and the next days to come.

“You know firstly, people were or are not aware that the cinema has reopened. But we hope that as time goes, they will get used to it and come watch the movies,” she said. She says they decided to resume their operations basing on the President’s directives on malls.

Oguttu explains that Knight Frank, which is the consultancy for Acacia Real Estates, consulted government that gave them guidelines within which they can operate. A notice issued by Century Cinemax indicates that they have increased the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting all high traffic areas and commonly touched places throughout the day.

“We have applied ongoing protectant or germ shield to all our common touch surfaces” the notice reads. Cinema-goers will also be required to stand within demarcated areas as they wait to enter or while around the cinema.

The cinema is also promoting the single use of 3D glasses. Although cash is still being used, management says they encourage contact-less payment like mobile money and use of Visa card. According to the new guidelines, no one will be admitted into the cinema without a mask and also if they have fever.

Management says that although they will be operating at half their sitting capacity, the prices of the movies will not change from the initial Shillings 12000 on Mondays and Shillings 22,000 on weekends. Ham Cinema and Numax Cinema in Entebbe are yet to announce their plans to resume operations.

Most Cinemas around the world were expected to start opening in May.

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