Withnational movie theater chainson the verge of shutting back down, floating cinemas with social distancing boats are setting sail this summer to offer a much safer movie viewing experience. As we all know, the movie theater business has suffered greatly this year as mass gatherings of people were deemed to be dangerous. In the interest of public safety, theaters had shuttered their doors for an extended period of time, and while many have been reopening with new social distancing requirements, many filmgoers don’t seem to be fully comfortable yet with heading back into the cinema.
Courtesy of Beyond Cinema, it has been announced that floating cinemas will be heading to select cities across the United States this summer to offer analternate way of watching moviesduring these hard times. At each of the sites, the event will provide 12 to 24 mini boats, allowing for up to eight guests per boat. Those interested in attending must purchase a ticket for the whole boat, ensuring guests will only be seated with their own friends and family. Boats will also be spaced out in the water to assist with social distancing measures, guaranteeing filmgoers will be more than six feet apart from other groups.
It gets better.Popcornwill be provided forfreeat the event, while other snack foods and beverages will be available to purchase as well. As of now, movie selections have not been announced, but once tickets go on sale, those titles will be revealed. Of course, Steven Spielberg’s horror classicJawsseems like the most obvious choice for a movie to play at a floating cinema, and any of its cheesy-but-fun sequels along with other shark horror movies would be very entertaining. Even watching other classic movies likeGhostbustersorBack to the Futurethat have nothing to do with water would also be a great time.
This year’s issues with movie theaters have also brought about manymajor delays with anticipated titlesthat were supposed to release this year. Big movies likeGhostbusters: Afterlife,Halloween Kills, andF9have all been pushed back to 2021 so they can play when filmgoers are once again comfortable heading to movie theaters en masse. Most movies set for this fall or winter are still holding their planned release dates as of now. It remains to be seen if the gradual reopening of major theater chains will move along swimmingly, or if they’ll be forced to close down once more, leaving it up to drive-in theaters and floating cinemas to provide other alternatives.
