'No Time To Die' for our Brick movie theater

It was sad to see Brick look like a ghost town when Covid-19 first reared its ugly head. I remember taking a picture of the empty AMC parking lot back in April. It was so disheartening but I noticed when the summer came things started to pick up. Even in the last few months I've noticed more action by the movie theater.

A friend of mine just rented a theater at the AMC in Brick for a VERY reasonable amount of money. They showed the classic Raiders of the Lost Ark and only he and seven others attended so it was easy to socially distance. That type of action can help theaters stay open and hopefully save some jobs despite the record number of theater closings in the last few months.

I realize the idea of physically going to the movies is daunting to many right now. The best we can do is hope current Covid-19 vaccinations will help. Another problem is the limited amount of films being released while the major studious hold onto or continue to push back the releases of major blockbusters.

Hollywood has lost a lot of money on their big budget blockbusters and have made deals with HBO Max, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Apple TV to release these films. Some are smaller films and some are big ones like Wonder Woman 1984 which just finished its limited release on HBO Max. But it makes one wonder if this is indeed the death of the huge blockbuster which could ultimately lead to the death of movie theaters?

No Time To Die is the twenty-fifth film in the James Bond series and will be Daniel Craig's last outing as 007. It was originally slated to open November 8, 2019 but was delayed until April 2020. Then came Covid-19 and it's been delayed twice since with the hope of opening October 8, 2021.

A Quiet Place II was slated for April 23 and has now been moved to September 17th. But, as with the latest James Bond film, these dates are not certain and subject to change. Hollywood can only guess where we will be with Covid-19 in the fall.

The movie business has been losing revenue to streaming services for years and Covid-19 has forced them to take inventory. And if they want these big blockbusters to make back their money they need theaters at full capacity. Sadly, I don't see that happening anytime soon.

The only thing we can do is hope things get better. But how does this help our AMC theater in Brick? How does it help people keep their jobs? I don't know but I know renting a theater with people you know who take the necessary precautions is a step in the right direction.