Both Garcetti and de Blasio made their announcements online on Sunday, March 15.
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— Mayor Eric Garcetti (@MayorOfLA) March 16, 2020
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) March 16, 2020
Closure details
For Los Angeles, the order goes into place immediately and will be in effect until (at least) March 31. (This particular order only affects Los Angeles proper, so municipalities like Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Pasadena will be unaffected.) For New York, de Blasio will sign the executive order on Monday, March 16, which will go into effect at 9:00 AM the following day. No specific end date was given, but it will most likely align with other re-openings over the next month. (New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered a broader closure for larger venues on March 12, which effectively closes places like Broadway houses until the week of April 13. NYC’s public schools will remain closed until the week of April 20.) Many establishments in each city have already closed, but these mayoral executive orders will make closures mandatory and more widespread. It’s also wider-reaching than the self-imposed restrictions theater chains like AMC have set up. According to Variety, this is the first time in history that movie theaters have closed in such large numbers for a non-weather-related concern. “This is not a decision I make lightly,” de Blasio said in a follow-up. “These places are part of the heart and soul of our city. They are part of what it means to be a New Yorker. But our city is facing an unprecedented threat, and we must respond with a wartime mentality. We will come through this, but until we do, we must make whatever sacrifices necessary to help our fellow New Yorkers.”
Box-office hit
New York and Los Angeles represent two of the largest cinema markets in the country. With both cities’ theaters closed and multiple tentpole films having their releases postponed, the global box office will surely slide. This past weekend the North American box office hit a 22-year low, with only one film, Onward, pulling in more than $10 million. The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, is taking a toll as it sweeps across the globe. As of this writing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports nearly 3,500 cases in the U.S. (although they note that individual states are doing most of the reporting independently from here on out). The CDC also recommends that any mass gathering of 50 or more people scheduled for the next eight weeks be cancelled or postponed. The President of the U.S. has also declared the COVID-19 pandemic to be a national emergency. This pandemic will be a large medical and financial burden for citizens of the world, inside the film industry and out. Leave your thoughts on the closure of NYC and LA movie theaters in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (via Variety) below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more movie news can visit our Movie News Page, our Movie News Twitter Page, our Movie News Facebook Page, and our Movie News Pinterest Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Flipboard.
