It’s time to grab your popcorn, snacks and drinks: Movie theaters reopen in La Salle County

In anticipation of moving to Tier 2 mitigations Friday, Roxy in Ottawa and Streator Eagle 6 theaters announced they will reopen, while the Apollo Theater in Princeton will remain closed, with hopes of joining the others in reopening in the near future.

Under Tier 2, movie theaters will be able to reopen as long as they are limited to fewer than 25 guests or 25% of their capacity.

“I was pretty surprised by the announcement that we can reopen,” Roxy Cinemas spokesperson Mark McSparin said. “I had kind of resigned to the thought we wouldn’t be able to open back up until February sometime, so I’m happy and thankful for that.

“We did miss Thanksgiving and Christmas, which are our two biggest times of the year, so that’s a tremendous impact on us and really impossible to recoup from that. But at least we will reopen this Friday with the movies we would have been showing at those times, and people will have an opportunity to see those films.

“We are cautiously optimistic and are expecting to have some fairly reasonable traffic, at least for the first weekend, with people needing to get their movie fix after not being able to see a movie in a theater for almost two months. We are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.”

Streator Eagle 6 owner Eric Gubelman said the past two months have been tough, but he is hoping the reopening is a step in the right direction moving forward. He also said that, like Roxy, his theater still will be following protocols as far as social distancing, mask-wearing and sanitizing between shows.

“The balance sheets of independent theaters have been decimated over the past year with the shutdowns,” Gubelman said. “It left many theaters in a pretty deep hole, but the first rule is always to find a way to stop digging and we have done that. Stimulus money, different grants and the support of the local community as far as taking part in the outdoor concessions we have offered while closed to showings have been a huge part of keeping us on our feet.

“We are trying to imagine moving forward what small-market theaters will look like, and we expect to put into place a new concept that we think will be welcomed in the Illinois Valley.”

Princeton’s Apollo Theater owner Jay Schneider said he believes a reopening at his theater at this time just isn’t the right move, at least for right now.

“We are not going to open this weekend for multiple reasons with the biggest being that this is normally one of our slowest times of the year, even in good years,” Schneider said. “Right now it is still beautiful outside, but we all know the days of minus-20 temperatures are not far away. The movie selection right now isn’t very good in my opinion either, so we are going to hold up until the middle or end of February to reopen.

“We will definitely be back. It’s just a matter of deciding when right now.”

Movies and times at Roxy on Friday

“The Croods: A New Age” (4 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.)

“Don’t Tell a Soul” (4:45 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)

“The Marksman” (4:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.)

“News of the World” (4:15 p.m. and 7 p.m.)

“Wonder Woman 1984″ (5:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.)

Movies and times at Streator Eagle 6 on Friday

“The Croods: A New Age” (4:20 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)

“Monster Hunter” (4:50 p.m. and 7:40 p.m.)

“Fatale” (4:40 p.m. and 7:20 p.m.)

“The Marksman” (4:30 p.m. and 7:10 p.m.)

“News of the World” (4 p.m. and 6:50 p.m.)

“Wonder Woman 1984″ (5:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.)