, Columnist
Save the Movies
Cinemas are too important to our culture to let Covid-19 kill them.
Spray it down and open it up.
Photographer: BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
I miss going to the movies. The real movies: sitting in a darkened theater, a face in the crowd, enjoying a serious drama or a silly sci-fi franchise on the big screen. If the theaters vanish, I’ll lose a quiet pleasure; we as a nation will lose one of our last democratic entertainments.
And vanish they might. In the wake of the global pandemic, we’re being warned that the industry faces an existential crisis. We’ve heard such tidings before, but this time, say the Cassandras, the crisis is real. Whether due to emergency decree or fear of infection, people are staying home in droves.