Liam Neeson to welcome New York moviegoers to theaters: “This Is One for the Diary”



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The cinemas of the very important market have been closed for almost a year due to the pandemic. The well-known actor will be heading to AMC Lincoln Square to present his latest action shot, “The Marksman”.

Hollywood studio executives aren’t alone in celebrating the reopening of movie theaters in New York this weekend after nearly a year of closure due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Actor Liam Neeson, who received his first shot, will personally thank moviegoers for coming before his final action pic airs Friday night at a major Upper Westside multiplex.

“It’s one for the newspaper,” said Neeson Hollywood journalist during an interview this week. “It will be nice to welcome people. I think going to the movies is a bit of a sacred experience. I have felt it since I was a child.”

New York City isn’t just the second-largest film market in the country behind Los Angeles – where theaters remain closed – it’s key to generating buzz and publicity for Hollywood titles, and for the box office. as a whole as he tries to stand up. .

“The reopening of New York is a strong symbolic gesture addressed to the audience of the theater to tell them that it is normal to put their toe in the water,” said Tom Ortenberg, head of Open Road / Briarcliff, who distributes The sniper in the USA

A new National Research Group poll on Thursday showed movie-goers’ confidence to hit its highest level in Principle open at the end of summer. With President Biden’s announcement earlier this week that every adult can be vaccinated by the end of May, the NRG survey showed consumers were feeling much more optimistic about their return to the movies in the next few months. month.

Theaters in San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area have also been given permission to reopen, while Los Angeles could follow in the coming weeks.

Without Los Angeles and New York in play, Hollywood studios have delayed their tentpoles. Now, there is hope that there could be a box office summer season.

In New York, capacity is limited to 25%, or no more than 50 people per auditorium. While this makes it difficult for theaters to make a profit, it’s a start.

AMC opens its 13 locations in New York, while arthouse icons such as the IFC Center and Angelica also open on Friday. Regal, which is owned by Cineworld, is targeting a reopening in April.

According to Comscore, there are a total of 62 theaters in New York City.

“The consumer appetite is there,” says Joe Masher, who heads the great New York chapter of the National Association of Theater Owners. He is also the head of Bowtie Cinemas, which has locations in upper New York State, Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia.

“The reopening of New York theaters will give studios a boost to release their biggest films,” Masher says.

Early Thursday, however, Universal announced that it was pushing back the release of Fast Furious Payment F9 from the end of May to the end of June by prudence.

“I’m disappointed, but I understand their decision,” Masher says. “At least they didn’t make him fade into oblivion.”

On Friday, Masher will accompany Andrew Yang, a Democrat running for mayor of New York, to an unknown cinema in the metro area.

As for his words, Neeson is likely to speak about a story close to his heart. Famous actor duo Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson – the grandparents of his late wife Natasha Richardson – performed in plays in London’s West End during the WWII blitz.

“People didn’t panic,” says Neeson. “Sometimes the plays would stop and Sir Michael would come down to the orchestra pit and start playing the piano and singing. Vanessa Redgrave, who was my wife’s mother, told us this story over the years and I think , “wow, this is amazing. ‘”

“There’s a little parallel to what’s going on right now,” says Neeson. “We are being bombarded by these invisible microscopic bombs.”

March 4, 6:34 p.m. An earlier version of this story stated that Andrew Yang was running for governor of New York City, but has been corrected to say he is running for mayor.



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