As the ongoing covid-19 pandemic continues to affect businesses, movie theatres are experiencing

As the ongoing covid-19 pandemic continues to affect businesses, movie theatres are experiencing huge financial losses and many could close by the end of the year including one local theatre, here in Humboldt.

The nearly 80-year-old, the locally owned attraction has seen a dramatic decline in moviegoers since march.

“Because they’re down 80 percent, 85 percent since March. they normally see 40,000 people in by this point, and now they’re down to under 10,” said Amanda Love.

According to Love, the executive director of the Humboldt Chamber, residents are not so much worried about contracting covid-19 but are finding other ways to watch films.

“They’ve gotten used to staying home and watching Netflix, or they’ve gotten used to watching Hulu or cable or doing things at home so they’re not getting out as much,” said Love.

Love describes the historic theater as a hub, and if they have to close their doors, it would be a major loss for the city and eliminate jobs.

“This is a great addition to Mainstreet and it would be a huge gap that would be hard to fill if they were to leave,” said Love.

As a whole, the closing of local and national theatres would leave nearly 150,000 us citizens unemployed.

To urge Congress to provide more funding, the national association of theatre owners launched the ‘save your cinema’ campaign.

“One of the things theaters weren’t, or didn’t happen for theaters is they weren’t included in a lot of the cares act funding.”

Love says Humboldt Plaza 3 is open and workers are following CDC guidelines.