Cineplex urges Ontario to make changes to theatre occupancy limits

Cineplex Inc. executives are urging the province to loosen restrictions on how many people can occupy its building at a single time.

Ontario’s stage 3 reopening guidelines, introduced last week, cap movie theatres at an occupancy of 50 people throughout the entire building, regardless of how many auditoriums it operates.

Dan McGrath, chief operating officer of the Canadian movie theatre chain, says the company has been in conversations with the province’s health ministry in hopes of revising movie theatre limits to allow 50 moviegoers inside a single auditorium.

McGrath says the existing capacity doesn’t make economic sense.

Cineplex has reopened 36 locations in provinces where distancing measures are less restrictive, but its Ontario theatres remain closed.