by Kenneth Rosa | staff writer

As more businesses are slowly beginning to open throughout San Antonio, movie theaters are beginning to reopen their doors. 

“I personally like it when I went,” sophomore Nicolas Gutierrez said. “The staff was always cleaning and everyone wore their mask and respected the rules.” 

Santikos has open theatre locations such as Palladium, Casa Blanca, and Embassy, and others are only open on weekends. Regal theatres still remain closed however they are scheduled to reopen in San Antonio on May 16. 

“I have been to Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas and also Santikos Entertainment the atmosphere despite being in a mask was fresh and nostalgic while also being quite calm and refreshing,” Gutierrez said.

Because of the shutdowns caused by COVID-19, people have turned to streaming services to avoid potential exposure in movie theaters. However, this move has caused business in theaters across the country to plummet. 

“I mean personally, I’m okay with it as long as we are enforcing COVID restrictions, like social distancing, limiting the number of people allowed, and wearing masks,”  senior Kavita Tully said. 

Highly anticipated movies such as Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon, No Time to Die, F9, Top Gun: Maverick, Mission Impossible 7, and more are among a long list of highly anticipated movies of this year. These movies were intended to be seen on the big screen, however different streaming services are giving people the opportunity to see these movies at home. 

“While more people nowadays do watch movies at home, theaters were made and optimised so that you can be fully immersed and enjoy the movie that makes watching a movie in a theater more special,” Gutierrez said.

Streaming services such as Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max are giving people who are at home the opportunity to experience movies that are being released in theatres in the comfort of their homes.

“For me as a teenager convenience is not really an issue, cost however is one of the few places where streaming services are noticeably better I’d say at least 40 percent cheaper,” Gutierrez said. “Although the experience of going to a theater with friends or family and thoroughly being entertained just might be worth the price.”

Although theaters are still in the early stages of reopening there is still hope for people to return to theaters and enjoy the cinema. 

“Most likely I mean there will probably still be people wanting to go to the movies and others who want to play it safe and just stay home or go out as little as possible but there would most likely be people willing to go back to the movie theatres,” Tully said.