NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WBEN) – Even though New York State gave the green light for movie theatres to reopen beginning this Friday, don't expect the Riviera Theatre to take advantage of the situation.
Even though the North Tonawanda theatre has the ability to play movies, Executive Director Dave Fillenwarth said it's not feasible.
"There's just no money to be made there for 50 people," Fillenwarth told WBEN. "After you pay your staff and get the movie rights to show the movie for 50 people, this just doesn't make business sense, quite honestly. Sure, we have the capability to show movies, but that's not our interest.
We want to get back to live music events."
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul previously told reporters that music venues were next to reopen. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Saturday that movie theatres can reopen at 25 percent capacity or a maximum of 50 people.
Venues like Riviera Theatre are still left in the dark.
"It's nice to hear that they're talking about the industry to some degree," Fillenwarth said. "Good for the movie theatres. Maybe the megaplexes can make a go of it with 50 people per screen. But the individual theatres? 50 people is not going to excite them."
Riviera Theatre has a plan that's been approved by local health officials which would include limited capacity, no concessions, and social distancing inside the historic theatre.
They also getting help from Niagara County Legislator Jesse Gooch, who spearheaded a campaign to sell signs that encourage the community to contact the lieutenant governor's office and "#opentheriv". Proceeds from the sign sales go towards the theatre.
"We would encourage all people in our industry to do the same thing," Fillenwarth said. "Let's blanket Western New York with these signs. Make up your own. Encourage people to react and call Kathy Hochul. She represents this region. She's aware of our plight. She won't respond to us or any other theatre and there's no reason we shouldn't have any plan rolled out for us."
