(WWJ) A local movie theater plans to reopen this week — against the governor's orders.
While indoor movie theaters and performance venues in metro Detroit remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Emagine Royal Oak will be opening this Friday for film festival showcasing black actors, directors and writers.
It's being held in celebration of Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, which each year on June 19 commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. in 1865, when Union soldiers told enslaved men and women in Galveston, Texas that they were free.
Tickets are $10 and after royalties $6.50 of each ticket will go to the United Negro College Fund. The festival is expected to run for one week, with special social distancing, cleaning and other safety measures in place as descrbed on the theaters's website HERE. Showtimes and tickets are available at this link.
As day one of the festival nears, it's unclear if the state has plans to shut it down.
Oakland County Executive David Coulter said he's disappointed by Emagine's decision to ignore virus orders.
"I've been in contact with the governor's office just this morning, talking about this particular case in Royal Oak," Coulter told WWJ's Jon Hewett, "so they're looking into it."
Indoor movie theaters are closed in a majority of Michigan, with the exception of regions in Northern Michigan which the governor has moved head to state five of her 'MI Safe Start' reopening plan.
"I don't know what the disciplinary actions could be," Coulter added. "But we really do rely on our businesses in Oakland County to, you know, comply with these guidelines, because they're still necessary. COVID is still in our community, people are still getting infected every day, people in Oakland County are dying almost every day still."
Emagine theater owners and management did not immediately return calls from WWJ Newsradio 950 for comment.
