GREENFIELD — Fittingly for a man who relied on “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” to bring business back to his movie theater, Isaac J. Mass wields a lightsaber.
Well, more of a wand that emits sanitizing ultraviolet light. It’s designed to keep surfaces within the theater clear of the coronavirus without using a spray or fogger mist.
“Because no one likes sitting in a wet seat,” said Mass, owner of the Greenfield Garden Cinemas.
Darkened for months, big screens are lighting up again under Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plans. But continued concerns about the coronavirus mean auditoriums are restricted to 25 patrons or fewer, and those patrons can’t buy popcorn and other snacks inside the theater.
The lightsaber analogy is fitting for Mass and other theater owners — both independent and chains — hoping for a little Hollywood magic to pull them out of the doldrums caused by the pandemic.
“Oh, we are definitely not making money,” Mass said. “Even with (the federal Paycheck Protection Program) to pay employees and really good deals from the studios. We are basically operating to break even, or to have less of a loss. It’s really expensive even just to turn on the air conditioning.”
The idea is to tread water until state restrictions loosen and more new movies come out.
"And to keep the theater tradition alive while we are waiting," he said.
Tower Theaters in South Hadley, also the recipient of a PPP loan, reopened Friday.
“We are not expecting a whole lot of traffic. But we have two new movies,” said Robert Adam, owner of Tower Theaters for 20 years. “We are just taking it week by week to see how things go. No expectations. We are just riding along here.”
Other theaters are holding off. Amherst Cinema says it won’t open until late September. Phoenix Theatres owner Corey Jacobson said in a social media post that the reopening of the Beacon Cinema in Pittsfield is put off indefinitely.
Agawam Cinemas is selling to-go popcorn and snacks to drum up business during the coronavirus lockdown. The theater won;t open until restrictions loosen even further. (Jim Kinney/The Republican
Agawam Cinemas, which reopened in 2015 under the new ownership of cinephile Kimberly Wheeler, has offered theater snacks for curbside pickup, something other theaters like Tower are trying.
Built in 1971 as a Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema, Agawam Cinemas is open for private screenings, she said. But the 25-person-per-screen limit means she can’t make a profit opening to the general public.
It’s not just restrictions on capacity or selling popcorn and sodas that will keep theaters form making money.
There’s competition from the online streaming services people have gotten used to watching during the pandemic. And drive-in movies have become popular again. The Northfield Drive-In, operating under new ownership, is showing classic films and simulcast concerts under the open sky on weekends.
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Among the chain theaters, Cinemark has said it will be gradually reopening its theaters across the country, but hasn’t announced dates for its West Springfield or Hadley locations. The Regal MGM Springfield theater is not open and there is no word when that will happen.
Regal is now Springfield’s only movie theater. Cinemark closed its Eastfield Mall theater last month and even destroyed the theater’s equipment before it left, making it harder for another exhibitor to take over the space. The mall’s owners say they’re talking with at least two potential theater tenants.
Cinemark also has plans to build a theater at the Holyoke Mall, taking over the former Sears spot. Holyoke Mall spokeswoman Lis Wray said this week that there are no updates on the Holyoke theater.
Nationally, AMC Theaters says there is substantial doubt it can remain in business.
The state of Massachusetts allowed theaters to reopen earlier this month, but under restrictions that will keep crowds — and profits — down.
Mass said social distancing requirements mean his auditoriums can only fill up to about 17% of normal capacity.
"But we are not even close to that, except for Empire Strikes Back," he said. "The crowd has been small. Most of our shows are private shows."
Folks can arrange for private shows and have the theater to themselves, guaranteed, like a Hollywood mogul in a studio screening room. But often just walking in off the street and buying a ticket means it’s just you and the silver screen.
And theaters can’t sell concession food for consumption in the theater. Even the magic claw machine in the Garden’s arcade is shut down.
There aren’t many new movies because studios have held back releases or have shifted movies to online streaming services. For example, Sony Pictures planned to release the Tom Hanks World War II drama “Greyhound” in theaters in June but instead released it on Apple TV.
Disney’s “Mulan” is expected to be released in August. The Christopher Nolan-directed thriller “Tenet” has put off its release date.
"Those are the two tentpoles," said Tower owner Adam.
So at the Garden, the Mass family’has been showing older films, including “The Empire Strikes Back,” a 40-year old movie that took the crown as the nation’s top box-office grosser a few weekends ago.
The Garden, built in 1929, has also been showing films from Hollywood’s golden age, including a double feature where Claude Rains has supporting roles in both pictures, “Casablanca” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
New films at the Garden have been art house fare like “Never Too Late” with James Cromwell and “Guest Artist,” written by and starring Jeff Daniels and directed by Timothy Busfield with Melissa Gilbert as a producer. Husband-and-wife Busfield and Gilbert recorded a promo for the Garden.
The Garden also showed the new Jon Stewart political comedy “Irresistible” starring Steve Carell.
Tower Theaters opened with “The Rental” starring Alison Brie, and Ron Perlman in “The Big Ugly.”
"We have two new movies," Adam said. "A horror and an action movie."
He expects crowds to grow as more films open for general release.
“Things were going very well (before the shutdown),” he said. “We had a good opening of the year. One people are convinced it’s safe, we should have our audience back.”
Ensuring safety means leaving seats open between patrons and sanitizing everything.
“We’re asking people to leave their seat armrests up when they leave, so we know which seats have been used,” he said.
Mass, an attorney and former Greenfield city councilor, bought the theater with his wife, Angela, in November.
“The cinema tradition is something we are trying to keep alive,” he said. “We know that, eventually, something will get back to normal at some point.”
And he knows that once things get back to normal, people will want to go to the movies again.
“I think a lot of people want to get out. It’s safer than going to a restaurant. It’s safer than going to church,” Mass said.
Think of it as the beginning, or the renewal, of a beautiful friendship.
“You can only Netflix for so long,” Mass said. “But there is nothing like seeing ‘Casablanca’ on the big screen.”
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