In Beijing, China, plans to open up most businesses in the city, including movie theaters to near-full capacity, have been abruptly put on hold after new coronavirus cases have been announced, per Supchina.com. The city was faced with a new localized infection after two months of having no new cases, causing health officials to once again close movie theaters, as well as other places with large-gatherings, such as schools and restaurants. 

This is important in predicting how American cities will operate in the future, amid the almost-certain fact that there will be at least some new cases across the country as we move forward into reopening. Recently, California Health Officials announced that movie theaters were allowed to open as early as June 12, with a maximum of one hundred socially-distanced people in the audience, or a 25% seating capacity in order to mitigate any potential spread of the virus. Even with this announcement, many theaters across the state have remained closed. When new cases continue to rise in cities across the country, it will be interesting to see if they choose to follow in China’s footsteps and immediately shut everything back down once again. 

While this is not what movie-lovers across the globe want to hear, taking this precautionary step could actually be what gets audiences worldwide back into theaters in the safest possible way.