Showplace Cinemas announces reopening plan for all movie theater locations

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - Showplace Cinemas announced Wednesday that a reopening plan is officially in place.

The movie theater chain made the announcement on its Facebook page.

These are the reopening dates for all of the theater chain’s locations.

• Showplace East will open June 14
• Showplace Newburgh will open on June 19
• The FEC bowling lanes will open June 19
• Showplace North, Henderson, Harrisburgh, Jasper, Princeton and Connersville will open June 26
• The FEC arcade and laser tag facilities will open on July 4

Mick Stieler, the president of Showplace Cinemas, told 14 News that whenever people return to watch movies in cinemas, the movie theater experience is going to be a little different.

Some of the changes include movie theater guests purchasing their tickets online, or walking up to a kiosk that an employee will direct people to in order to buy tickets.

Steiler says the theater chain is simplifying concessions, so that one size drink and popcorn will cost $5 for guests. This price will be the same for tickets as well.

No cash transactions will be accepted in order to limit the amount of contact between employees and guests. Steiler also says that plenty of sanitation precautions are going to be in place.

“We’ll be cleaning the seats in between each showing," Steiler said. We will have plenty of time to clean. We’ll have at least an hour intermission, so there will be plenty of time to clean the auditorium, the seats and the cupholders. We’ll have people walking around cleaning the restrooms, cleaning everything that can be touched by the customer, and also keeping that six-feet social distancing.”

The social distancing rule will be important as people go inside each particular movie theater. Employees will be walking around to ensure that everyone is in their proper seat, which will be assigned once guests buy their tickets. Rather than self service, workers will fill up fountain drinks for concession customers.

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