The Regal Heartland 8 Cinema is set to re-open on Friday, May 21 with a couple of movies in anticipation of a return to traditional operations Memorial Day weekend.
“The way it’s going to work is we’re opening back up, but it’s more to get the wheels moving,” said Joshua Westerman, the new general manager of Regal Heartland 8 Cinema. “The first weekend we’re only go to show two movies because we have a whole new staff and we haven’t been open for over a year. The weekend after that though we’ll get all the movies in and everyone will be trained.”
The Quiet Place II and Spiral are among the movies that will be debut on Memorial Day weekend.
As for the viewing experience, theaters will initially be at 50 percent capacity with every other row cut off, and masks will be required in the lobby, but not the theaters themselves. Westerman, however, expects those rules to change soon.
“It’s the company’s decision, but with us being in Texas me and my district manager are almost positive that’s going to get waived if not the weekend of the opening, by the next weekend,” Westerman said.
Regal Heartland 8 Cinema is in the process of hiring, Westerman said.
“We’re looking for floor staff, people that are customer service friendly,” Westerman said. “The summer’s coming up so it would be a good time to get some high schoolers some work.”
Westerman and the new staff are looking forward to the theater becoming an interactive experience for movie goers.
“Myself and my assistant manager, we’re extremely enthused and fired up,” Westerman said. “We’re going to be more interactive, more festive, we’re going to go all out. If we have a Star Wars release you might see us up here in some storm trooper outfits. We’re going to bring some more excitement and livelihood to it.”
The movie theater briefly re-opened in August 2020 and featured classic movies such as Inception, The Goonies, The Empire Strikes Back, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Jaws
Most movie theaters across the country, including the Regal Heartland 8 Cinema, have been closed since March 2020 to the COVID-19 pandemic.