Palace Amusement ready to reopen - Waiting on go-ahead from Gov’t

After a three-month closure of all cinemas islandwide, Palace Amusement, operators of Carib 5, Palace Cineplex, Palace Multiplex and Sunshine Palace, is more than ready to reopen their doors to the public. The company, which has put in place the required health and safety protocols, is now awaiting the green light from the Government.

“Reopening our doors is really not up to us. We have written to the prime minister and the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health outlining our health and safety protocols and asking for a time frame on when we can reopen. The permanent secretary answered and said he would get back to us in five days. That five days hasn’t come yet,” Melanie Graham, marketing manager at Palace Amusement Company, told The Gleaner. “We haven’t heard back and so we’re kind of still trying to find out exactly what is happening.”

Graham said since closing their doors on March 14, Palace has had to lay off all staff members and has incurred significant losses that will be further exacerbated if business is not allowed to get under way soon. “We have nearly 300 members of staff that we have had to lay off and they are in a bad way. On our end, we have a lot of standing charges that we cannot avoid and there is absolutely nothing coming in. In that three-month period, based on where we were last year, we would have made approximately J$300 million,” she revealed. “That $300 million, though, would not have been all for us. Out of that we would have had to pay film distribution, staff, utilities, etc., but it would have been enough to carry on operations; buy goods, honour payroll, etc. We just want a time frame as to when we can reopen.”

NOT INCLUDED IN DISCUSSIONS

Although conversations are now under way to usher in the phased reopening of the entertainment industry, Graham said her company has not been looped into those discussions. She expressed that as a company she considers to be a key part of the entertainment industry, she would have hoped Palace Amusement would have been included in the conversations. “We would have been very hopeful that as a sector that isn’t necessarily high risk, they would have taken us into account when going into these discussions,” she said. “We feel very much alone, like we are orphaned, and we are a huge part of the entertainment industry. Perhaps one you can regulate a little more than others because we have time frames that you can count on, etc. We’re not going on until 3 o’clock in the morning.”

Speaking of being one sector that can be closely monitored, Graham says her team has been spending the time in closure putting together a public-health and safety plan she believes is workable if given the go-ahead. She says these plans not only promote social distancing but will ensure patrons are still able to enjoy the experience of going out to the movies.

“What we have proposed is that we take out every other row (of seats) so that would take us down to 50 per cent of the total capacity, and for every party that comes (people from the same household), we would seat them together, and between them and the next party would be a two- seat margin. The social-distancing protocols would come into play there,” she said.

“After each showing, we are going to take the seats that were occupied and sanitise them. The wearing of masks would also be mandatory, sanitisation stations will also be erected throughout the cinema. We’re trying very desperately to make the environment safe because we really need to open,” Graham said.

shereita. grizzle@gleanerjm.com