Yesterday, Los Angeles movie theaters finally started to re-open (with limited seating capacity, of course, for proper social distancing). One of the first screenings was at AMC’s flagship Los Angeles theater, the Century City 15, for the Oscar-nominated (and Golden Globe winning) Nomadland. As The Hollywood Reporter tells it:

Then came a final message before the movie started, a bright graphic with bold letters and a voiceover to match that said, “Welcome Back to the Movies.”

The audience responded by doing something typically saved for the final credits (of a worthy film) — they erupted in applause with a handful of guests cheering, “Woo!”

One movie fan there was Brannen Haderle, who said the experience had him “feeling re-inspired” and “absolutely invigorated to be back,” and he was hoping to go back for a new movie every day this week.

Another excited fan turned up at AMC’s Burbank location: Chris Nolan. Presumably he wasn’t there to watch Tenet, although there’s no shame in wanting to see your own movie on the big screen. In fact, someone else who was at the Century City’s re-opening was filmmaker Eddie Huang, director of the just-released Boogie:

“That’s the first time I’ve seen the movie in a movie theater; I get chills…. My mother is in that first scene and I just had to see how it looks.”

“I did an intro at a drive-in, but it’s not the same…. My heart is racing watching this in a theater; this is really cool.”

Deadline

That’s really great! It’s easy to forget that it’s not just fans who have been missing out on the theatrical experience, but the filmmakers themselves.

If you’re ready to welcome movies and want to know about safety, you can learn more about AMC’s Safe and Clean program and the similar CinemaSafe protocols that others are using to make sure all of us can safely enjoy the big screen experience.