SANDY, Utah, June 12, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — After three months of temporary closure due to COVID-19 restrictions, Larry H. Miller Megaplex Theatres is resuming modified business operations effective Thursday, June 18, throughout most Utah Megaplex locations from Logan to St. George.
The remaining Megaplex locations in Utah and Nevada will open their doors as soon as circumstances permit.
“The Intermission is finally over!” said Blake Andersen, Megaplex Theatres president, in a prepared release. “Our team is ready. Our buildings are ready. Our technology is ready, and we are thrilled to be welcoming guests back to Megaplex Theatres to enjoy great movies on the biggest screens in Utah.”
Megaplex officials say the theaters will open with enhanced cleaning, sanitizing, and operational protocols to ensure the health and safety of guests and employees, including:
- Limiting capacity per each auditorium based on state and local guidelines
- Requiring observance by all guests and employees of CDC guidelines, including discouraging at-risk or high-risk individuals from attending
- Wellness checks for employees
- Gloves and masks required for all employees
- Strongly encouraging guests to wear masks, available as needed upon request
- Cleaning of high-contact surfaces and areas
- Sanitizing each occupied seat between show times
- Frequent and proper handwashing
- Social distancing procedures
- Expanded cashless payment options
- Scaling back or temporarily suspending selected menu items in the food court
- Concessions ordering via the Megaplex mobile app for in-theatre pick up
- Encouraging guests to practice appropriate health and safety measures
Based on the best practices recommended by health safety experts, below are some of the proactive steps that Megaplex plans to take to address the current situation:
- Adding multiple hand-sanitizing stations located in prominent areas throughout our theatres and our event spaces for guest and employee use
- Enhancing our nightly deep cleaning standards and protocols
- Adding to the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting of high-traffic areas throughout the day
- While wearing gloves, we are cleaning and sanitizing chairs, armrests, and seat trays after each use
- Frequently sanitizing door handles, counters, touch screens at the box office, Coca-Cola Freestyle machines as well as railings and other surfaces
- Extra attention to cleaning and sanitizing our public restrooms, keeping handles, doors, baby changing stations and faucet handles clean
- Servicing touchless soap dispensers and hand dryers for added protection
- Increased signage to encourage proper handwashing for guests and employees
- Always wearing gloves while preparing food
- Employees handling money/card transactions do not directly handle food
- Added additional “touchless” devices to eliminate physical contact with high-traffic surfaces
- Enhanced cashless transaction technology for ticket and concessions purchases
- Developed innovative social distancing technology for reserved seating maps to create appropriate spacing between guests
- Expanded breaks between show times to allow time for additional cleaning and sanitization protocols
Megaplex continues to work with major studio partners to secure entertaining movie content. For the days leading up to the release of new Hollywood feature film content, Megaplex will bring back films including “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” series, award-winning titles like “Dunkirk” and “Just Mercy,” as well as popular musicals like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “The Greatest Showman.”
“Just in time for Utah’s Pioneer Day holiday weekend, new Hollywood films will arrive at the Megaplex starting with Christopher Nolan’s much anticipated film, ‘Tenet’ on July 17, followed by the live-action version of Disney’s ‘Mulan on July 24,’” Andersen said.
For show times, tickets, or more information on Megaplex Theatres’ enhanced health and safety protocols, guests are invited to download the free Megaplex Theatres mobile app, visit the Megaplex website at www.MegaplexTheatres.com/i/reopening, or follow Megaplex on social media.
