Regal Cinemas To Re-Open With Beloved Classics Like 'Star Wars' And 'The Lord Of The Rings' Trilogy
Regal Cinemas is bring back some of your old favorites to bring audiences back to theaters. With studios playing chicken over who will open first July, by which time most theater chains expect to be almost 100% open, there aren't many new movies to play in the theaters that are slowly opening across the nation. So Regal Cinemas is re-releasing beloved classics like The Empire Strikes Back, Jurassic Park, and The Lord of the Rings to attract audiences back to its locations.Variety reports Regal Cinemas plans to re-open its theaters by screening classic movies and audience favorites. The line-up includes Black Panther, Rocky, Unforgiven, The Empire Strikes Back, Inside Out, Jurassic Park, and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, which will screen at locations on July 10, alongside the Vin Diesel vehicle Bloodshot, which was one of the last films to hit theaters before they shut down in mid-March during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Nolan's Dark Knight films will continue on July 17, which will see the re-releases of Nolan's films Inception and Interstellar, joined by Bohemian Rhapsody, Iron Man, Jaws, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the 2017 live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast (though if they really wanted to bring back a beloved classic, they would screen the superior 1991 animated Beauty and the Beast instead).
The line-up is a collection of classics and box office hits, as well as newer releases like Sonic the Hedgehog and Bloodshot, both of which received shortened box office runs due to the pandemic. Re-releasing classics is becoming a pretty common re-opening strategy for theater chains across the globe: Japan has already seen some success (and shown far better taste) with re-releases of Ben-Hur, The Wizard of Oz, and more, while The Empire Strikes Back is getting a rare 4K re-release in U.K. cinemas as part of its 40th anniversary. The Inception re-release is also part of a 10th anniversary celebration from Warner Bros.
The line-up announcement comes just a few weeks ahead of the expected major studio releases of Disney's Mulan on July 24 and Warner Bros.' Tenet on July 31, though that may soon change. Theater chains are relying on the release of new tentpoles to revive their flagging businesses after being shut down for three months due to the pandemic. Regal Cinemas plans to begin re-opening its venues on July 10, with theaters limited to 50% capacity, in accordance with social-distancing guidelines.