Regal UA Midway Theater in Forest Hills To Reopen May 14

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — About six months after Regal Cinemas announced it would close its Forest Hills movie theater indefinitely, the cinema is now planning to reopen its Queens Boulevard location on Friday, May 14.

In October of last year, Cineworld announced it would indefinitely suspend operations at all 543 of its Regal Cinema locations in the United States due to continued revenue losses during the pandemic, including the UA Midway theater in Forest Hills and nine others across New York City.

Now, Regal is gradually reopening operations across the country, with dozens of theaters already open, and others slated to reopen their doors to moviegoers in April and May, according to the cinema’s website.

Half of Regals' 10 New York City locations are already open, including a theater in Long Island City, two theaters in Brooklyn, and two Manhattan locations in Battery Park and Union Square.

The cinema’s Essex Market location in Manhattan is slated to reopen this Friday, April 30, followed by the reopening of the Regal UA Staten Island & RPX theater on May 7.

The Forest Hills theater is among the last to reopen in the city, alongside Regal Bricktown Charleston in Staten Island, which is also slated to open on May 14.

Although Regal Cinema will be able to reopen all of their New York City locations by mid-May, many other locations across the country aren’t slated to reopen until May 21, since “key markets” — including the city — “have more concrete guidance on their reopening status,” which makes returning to the big screen easier, Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger told investors in October, when he initially shut down the 500-plus movie theaters.

Movie theaters were unexpectedly cut from New York’s phase four reopening last summer, and then not included in the state’s October reopening plan, but at the end of February Governor Andrew Cuomo gave the go-ahead for the city’s theaters to open at the beginning of March.

Like the rest of the state, the reopenings require 25-percent capacity limits with up to 50 people per screening, assigned seating, mandatory masks, and enhanced air filtration standards, Cuomo said.

The cinema has incorporated COVID-safety protocols into their reopening plans, including mask mandates, additional hand sanitizer stations, as well as reduced capacity seating and socially distanced theater seating with at least two seats in between groups.

The theater also said it would circulate more fresh air throughout the auditoriums, and make contactless purchasing of tickets and concessions available through the Regal mobile app.

Regal, the second-largest theater chain in the U.S. after AMC, is one of two theaters in Forest Hills, but as of May it could be the only one that is open.

The historic Cinemart Cinemas was slated to open in April, according to a social media post and news report, but it hasn’t announced an official opening date yet.