It is day 24601 of the year 2020 and I miss going to the movies.
The last film I saw in a proper movie theatre was Jojo Rabbit in early February, at a local art house theater, in my quest to watch all the Oscar nominated films before the winners were announced.
In early March, all the theaters shut down and besides a few drive-ins playing classics, we're still waiting for it to be safe for the multiplexes to open up again.
If you're only allowed a maximum of 50 people in the building, then once staff is factored in, there just isn't enough revenue opportunity to bother going to the trouble.
Which is probably why a new movie theater concept has gained so much interest in the industry.
Which is only sort of ominous.
The Oma Cinema wasn't specifically designed with social distancing in mind, since it pre-dates the pandemic.
According to a statement by Pierre Chican, architect, founder, and CEO of Oma Cinema:
"Whereas all the cinemas built for more than 50 years now are similar and reproduce the same seating arrangement of the audience, this concept of a movie theatre creates a cinematographic experience at the same time intimate, spectacular and immersive, where every seat in the house is the best seat in the house."
However, work is underway on the first real theater, set to open in Paris in 2021.
Hard to say yet whether or not it will open in time to take advantage of our current aversion to crowded spaces, but it's definitely a cool new take on the cinema experience!
h/t: Oma Cinema, UNILAD
