Movie theatres are a place to go and put reality in the back seat. As of March 17, Allen County residents no longer have that luxury. B&B Sterling Six Cinema has turned off its screen projectors for the time being due to COVID-19.
Theater manager Nic Olson was not surprised by the Bagby family’s decision to close its 50 movie theaters across seven states.
“Having a movie theater, which is a place where ideally hundreds of people are together in one small room, is going to be a place that gets closed down,” Olson said.
Initially, B&B Theatres reduced its seating capacity to 50% with an announcement on March 13, measures that were implemented the next day.
“When they said 50% capacity, it wasn’t a real worry for me, and I didn’t expect that we would need to turn people away,” Olson said. “For larger towns, that was going to be rough because they generally get a lot more people.”
Olson highlights that January through mid-March is a slower period for cinemas, and didn’t expect to be too impacted by the restrictions.
However, Olson was expecting things to get busy with blockbusters like Disney’s new live-remake of “Mulan” opening on March 27, and “Trolls” on April 10. Disney has since pushed back the release of “Mulan.” “Trolls,” on the other hand, will still release on April 10, with a simultaneous digital download.
As for Olson, he will be at his Piqua home for the time being. He is the only full-time employee at the Iola location, and points out that the B&B family has been cooperative during this process. He will be paid for the next three weeks, and the company is committed to providing its full-time employees with insurance.
“I’m nervous, but my family has survived on less,” Olson said. “We’ve had rough times in the past where we were just pulling in one paycheck between my wife and me. We were getting back in the flow with having extra money, but with this we went back to how we were operating before. We’ll try to keep our expenses down, and not go out too much.”
Olson and his wife, Paige, have three sons, James, 7, Matrim, 5, and Griffin, 3.
As for the part-time employees, they are in limbo. Olson has been in constant communication with his employees, and is also having weekly conference calls with corporate to know when operations will resume. For the time being, it is all about keeping things safe.
“People seemed to understand that this is a gathering place where you are supposed to have 10 or more people,” Olson said. “And if you aren’t supposed to be with 10 or more people in close contact, it is going to be a place to close.”
