Northern Ireland

Movie House Cinemas reopen

Movie House Cinemas reopened in Northern Ireland yesterday. Picture by Stephen Davison/Pacemaker
Movie House Cinemas reopened in Northern Ireland yesterday. Picture by Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Movie House Cinemas reopened in Northern Ireland yesterday. Picture by Stephen Davison/Pacemaker

MOVIE House Cinemas reopened in Northern Ireland yesterday for the first time since the lockdown was imposed.

The chain, which has sites at Cityside/Yorkgate, Glengormley, Maghera and Coleraine, is showing a mix of new, recent and classic films and yesterday, a steady stream of visitors lined up to enjoy a wet Tuesday at the movies.

Customers who visited the cinemas found a range of new safety procedures in place, including staggered show times, reduced seating capacity with space between customer groups, a temperature station at the front door and increased cleaning.

With many new releases delayed, the opening weeks Movie House Cinemas will be showing a mix of films.

From Friday, there is a new animated family film called Dreambuilders and the cinema is also bringing back some favourites like Guardians of the Galaxy, A Star is Born and Dirty Dancing.

Alan Marlow and his five-year-old daughter Scarlett were at the first screening of the Empire Strikes Back, a special 40th anniversary celebration.

Mr Marlow said: "We love going to the cinema and we’ve really missed it. All the safety measures are grand and the temperature station is really good."

Lee-Anne McDade and her family, who went to see My Spy, said: "Everything was very well organised and laid out, it almost feels like normal."

Michael McAdam, who owns Movie House Cinemas, said: "It’s great to be back. It’s wonderful to see people coming out to watch movies again.

"I want to say a special thanks to our staff teams who worked so hard to bring in these new safety measures and who are looking after our customers and each other in such unprecedented times," he said.

Further information is available at www.moviehouse.co.uk