Hooray! Things are slowly starting to open back up again — at least here in the city of Tulsa. Though we are not yet at the full capacity limit, things are starting to look up, bringing joy to the community. One of the many places that was looking to open back up was Circle Cinema — unfortunately it has been postponed.
The announcement of reopening came not too long ago, stating that Circle Cinema will open for the public once again on March 16 when they decided to voluntarily shut their doors. First, they were looking to ease into accepting crowds at 25 percent capacity and then slowly work their way up. Hopefully by next year or so, they — like many other theatres and public places — will be holding full capacity, with caution, of course, but without many restrictions, like many theatres are doing with movie-goers and food served. However, they recently released a statement on their website saying as of Aug. 27 because of the pandemic “Circle Cinema cannot reopen in good conscience”, they have to temporarily close up shop until they are in the clear again, meaning they will “only reopen when case numbers are declining.”
The quaint, historic movie theatre is home to various events with a variety of films, such as streaming the Independent Spirit Awards like they did earlier this year. The movies shown range from the cinematic, like Sam Mendes’s gripping war drama “1917,” to the action-packed and outrageous, like Quentin Tarantino’s written wonder “True Romance.” Besides these movies, Circle Cinema also shows the classics, including silent movies, documentaries and other hidden gems. The movie theatre also has what is called “graveyard movies,” which are shown late at night, typically going to midnight or a little past midnight.
Due to COVID-19, movie theatres had to close because of the understandable concern of an outbreak. This sadly has caused huge loss in profit for companies, the re-release or postponement of films and people choosing to stay in and stream movies rather than go out and deal with restrictions. Nevertheless, during the past several months, Circle Cinema persevered and found a way to reach their devoted crowd of film buffs by streaming movies on their website.
This was a good marketing tool for the company, as it gave people familiarity with the theatre; it was a great way for native Tulsans and out-of-state university students to discover a diamond in the rough and escape larger theatre crowds such as the likes of AMC or Cinemark.
With Circle Cinema continuing their business — whether if it’s in person or on their website — is a much-needed relief. It is essential for college students taking a study break or just as a way to feel as if everything is getting back to normal somehow.
As temporary closing continues on for many businesses as well as Circle Cinema, there’s no telling what is going to happen next. However, the best thing we can do is to keep showing our support for small business and put in our part to stay healthy and safe.
