Movie Theaters Waiting to Reopen Could Be Best Thing for Cinema Chains, Analyst Says

As the country closes in on the third month of stay-at-home orders, some states have taken it upon themselves to begin allowing businesses, including movie theaters, to open their doors. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday gave theaters — as well as restaurants, retail stores and museums — the green light to reopen if they want. That news came the same day that theaters in Georgia were allowed to start welcoming moviegoers back. B. Riley FBR analyst Eric Wold wrote in a note to investor clients on Monday that theaters reopening this early, before studios begin releasing new films, would be the wrong move and likely not what’s best for profitability. Also Read: Texas Allows Theaters to Reopen This Friday at Limited Capacity “Some may believe opening theaters as soon as possible is best to ‘prime the pump’ with movie-goers and get them back to their prior habits. We continue to believe this may be the wrong move for a number of reasons, including movie-goer and investor sentiment as well as company-level profitability,” Wold wrote. “We believe movie-goer interest in seeing library films in theaters during the initial reopening period may be fairly limited–both given that those films can be...

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