Landmark Cinemas ready to welcome cinephiles

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – Movie-goers have been waiting patiently for curtains to rise at Landmark Cinemas since November.

On Tuesday, Landmark Cinemas will be open in a familiar fashion to last year. CEO Bill Walker says customers will see reduced capacity in theatres.

“Much like our operating procedures last year, when we were open in the summer, we had socially distanced seating, reduced capacity to 50 people per auditorium, and showtimes were spread out throughout the day,” says Walker.

Staffing has been a different challenge depending on the markets.

“Market to market, staffing has been a different level of challenge. Sometimes we’ve had staff on layoff that were ready to return, and in other cases, there is a pretty high turnover. So, we’re out in the market looking for new people and trying to recruit and orient some new cast to the procedures and to ultimately work in a movie theatre.”

As long as the demand is there, Landmark wants to see a return to capacity.

“We look forward to getting back to normal work for auditoriums enjoying that shared experience, but we know that’s not a switch everybody’s ready to make overnight, and we’re not interested in that.”

It’s important to take the necessary time from a comfort level, adds Walker.

“It’s going to take some time for everybody to get back to normal and feel comfortable in those venues, and we still want to be one of the safest places you can go in the midst of what’s still going on.”

With plenty of new content ready to hit the big screens, Walker says there have been thousands of tickets sold across B.C. already.

“That’s the biggest difference from last year, we had no content to put on our screens frankly. But now we have lots of new Hollywood content and good films to showcase.”

The recent closure of the Dawson Creek Landmark Cinema was a tough one, but Walker says it came down to the number of screens available.

“Those single screen markets are difficult. It’s just a challenging way to program films as you’re having more and more new movies coming out, and people are seeking those larger format experiences and auditoriums like we have in Fort St. John.”

Walker says the future of the Fort St. John theatre is strong, and Landmark is fully committed to the recovery post-pandemic.