Following the confirmation that South African cinemas will be reopening this coming Friday, 28 August – a consolidated industry campaign titled “It’s Time To Go BIG Again,” involving all key role-players, launched on TV, Digital Outdoor, Radio, Online, and through social media this past weekend. Cinemas in South Africa have been closed for the past 5 months due to COVID-19 lockdown regulations, resulting in a complete shutdown of all their business operations.
The campaign’s central point of engagement is online via the GoBIGagain.co.za microsite and promoted with the #GoBIGagain hashtag – containing detailed information on all cinemas’ health & safety protocols, local and international industry news, direct links to the various cinema groups in Southern Africa and more information on the movies heralding the return of the Big Screen Experience to cinemas. It’s primarily about re-launching the unique appeal of cinemas, to again screen movies with larger-than-life quality in a way that movies were meant to be seen and experienced.
“We are very excited to roll out our ‘Go BIG Again’ campaign, which is the culmination of a coordinated industry effort to establish a responsible reopening strategy for the full spectrum of the local cinema business. All of South Africa’s cinema exhibitors, film distributors and international studio representatives, along with other industry stakeholders, joined hands and have been collaborating for the past few months to effectively map out the reopening of the industry on non-competitive terms. We are also very grateful for the overwhelming support from our partners in the media and entertainment community, who have demonstrated keen interest over the past few months and teamed up with us to launch this campaign nationwide. It’s time to go BIG again!” say the members of the South African cinema industry committee.
One of the campaign’s core objectives is to assure movie fans that all those cinemas reopening will include the preventative measures as required by governmental regulations, to keep cinema staff and cinemagoers safe and healthy. The campaign also reignites awareness around the magic of the movies and includes glimpses of past and present box office hits, cinematic classics with impact, audience favourites, the power of South African film and other striking content which define the essence of watching movies on a Big Screen with premium quality sound in a cinema.
Some of the major new movie releases lined up for cinemas over the next few months include Warner Bros’ TENET; Twentieth Century Studios’ NEW MUTANTS; Disney’s MULAN; Universal’s TROLLS: WORLD TOUR and the new James Bond film, NO TIME TO DIE; Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW; Sony’s CONNECTED; independent studio titles such as AVA from Filmfinity and UNHINGED from Empire Entertainment; as well as locally produced films FLATLAND (Indigenous Film Distribution) and TOORBOS (Filmfinity).
Based on current governmental regulations and guided by advice from the Department of Health, the World Health Organisation and internationally recognised industry experts – some of the key health and safety protocols being implemented in Nu Metro, Ster-Kinekor and other cinemas are listed below:
- Online bookings in advance are encouraged.
- Mask-wearing will be mandatory for all customers and staff, and can only be taken off while eating or drinking inside the cinema auditoria.
- Temperature checks will be done on arrival for all customers at access points to cinema complexes.
- Customers will have direct access to hand sanitiser at cinema access points, and are required to sanitise on entrance to venues. Various in-cinema messages encourage regular hand sanitising and other precautionary requirements.
- Social distancing measures will be implemented for cinema foyers and seating inside cinema auditoria – to ensure a physical distance of 1.5m is maintained between people at all times in all areas.
- Access control management and a limit on ticket sales per movie show will be applied to ensure the required venue capacity is capped at the required minimum per theatre or public space within a cinema complex at all times.
- All cinemas will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before and after each and every show.
- All high-touch point areas such as kiosks, self-service terminals, serving counters, door handles, rails, benches, booths and bathroom areas will be disinfected on a regular basis daily.
- All staff have been retrained in effective and frequent hand-washing – targeting fronts, backs, wrists and between fingers – with soap and water for at least 20 seconds every time.
Go to www.GoBIGagain for more information. Follow #GoBIGagain on social media.
