Re-opening date for Oswego Kendall 11 theater pushed back again amid COVID-19 pandemic

UPDATED 6 P.M. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 7:

OSWEGO – With the release date delay of bigger-ticket silver screen flicks due to the COVID-19 pandemic comes a delayed opening day for one local movie theater.

Kendall 11 GDX movie theater workers wrote in a Tuesday social media post that the movie theater won't be able to re-open by Thanksgiving this year with the new James Bond movie "No Time To Die" being rescheduled for an April 2021 release date.

"We look forward to having you back in theatres with our safety protocols, but we need enough new movies to play week to week in order to sustain our business," the social media post from the 95 Fifth St. theater read.

Theater officials wrote in the post they hope to see patrons in December if "Wonder Woman 1984" holds to its Christmas release date.

Chris Johnson, president and CEO of Classic Cinemas, said Wednesday evening the hope was for the theater to open on Nov. 13. He said he even sent an email recently to staff about that plan.

"And then, five minutes later, [I was told] 'Hey, they're going to be moving Bond,' " Johnson said. "And I was like, are you kidding me?"

Johnson said the reason why movie release dates keep on being pushed back is because a lot of movie theaters in New York especially have not re-opened amid the pandemic and it has caused a ripple effect from there. Once those New York theaters open back up, he said, business looks a lot more promising for theaters across the country.

Johnson said Christmas week is typically the biggest week of the year for movie theaters and it would make sense for Kendall 11 to re-open during that week. However, the hope is still to open earlier than that, he said.

The update comes after Johnson wrote in an Aug. 19 social media post that the company was taking a more cautious approach to re-opening the Kendall 11 theater and re-opening once COVID-19 pandemic conditions improved. Johnson confirmed July 17 that Classic Cinemas bought the Kendall 11 GDX movie theater that was formerly owned by Michigan-based Goodrich Quality Theaters, Inc.

Johnson had said in July the initial hope was for the Oswego theater to re-open in August to correspond with then-anticipated movie release dates, including the new James Bond movie and the spy film "Tenet" written and directed by Christopher Nolan.

Goodrich Quality Theaters previously applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. According to federal court documents in July, a judge filed an order authorizing an asset purchase agreement between Goodrich Quality Theaters, Inc. and Goodrich Theater Newco, LLC, saying Goodrich Theater Newco submitted a bid for all assets of Goodrich Quality Theaters except for the Kendall 11 theater.

Johnson had said the company closed on the property on July 10 and the company is looking to retain the Kendall 11 general manager that was already there as of March. Though several workers have already moved on since the theater closed in mid-March due to the pandemic, he had said, the thought was to bring back about 20 workers that employed at the theater through Goodrich Quality Theaters previously.

Johnson had said the company also is looking to bring back about 20 workers that previously were employed at the Classic Cinemas Ogden 6 Theatre in Naperville, which showed its last films on March 16. He had said the Ogden location closed after the landlord terminated the lease and sold the property to Costco and a petition started floating around shortly after for the theater to be saved.

Johnson said on Wednesday he has had so many people in the community reaching out to staff and expressing their excitement and support for the change in ownership and the theater to open up again. He said the goal for staff remains to be able to re-open for good and not to just close back up again because they jumped the gun on re-opening.

"It has to be for real and we're going to do it, and everybody just please hold and be patient," Johnson said.

• This story has been updated to include additional comment from Chris Johnson, president and CEO of Classic Cinemas, on Wednesday.