After months of closure, cinemas throughout Malaysia will be allowed to re-open on Friday when coronavirus lockdown measures become further relaxed.
This was announced by the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) yesterday, a day after Malaysia revealed it was downgrading for two weeks the strict Movement Control Order in most parts of the country to the more relaxed Conditional or Recovery Movement Control Order on Friday.
“Filming activities and cinemas are allowed to operate in areas under the CMCO and RMCO lockdown according to the SOPs set by the National Security Council regarding health, hygiene and physical distancing,” Finas said in its statement, referring to the different lockdown statuses.
Areas downgraded to CMCO were Selangor, Penang, Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Perak, Kelantan, Sarawak, and the Kuala Lumpur federal territory, while Malacca, Pahang, Terengganu, Perlis, Sabah, and the Putrajaya and Labuan federal territories were placed under RMCO. The government will announce by March 18 whether this will remain status quo.
More than 160 cinemas can be found all over the country and a majority of them are owned by major chains GSC and TGV, which have already alerted moviegoers online about their reopening.
“The moment we’ve been waiting for… we will be reopening this FRIDAY!!” GSC wrote on their Facebook page. Movies that will premiere Friday include Raya and The Last Dragon and Wonder Woman 1984.
“WE’RE BACK!” TGV said in a photo. However, two of its outlets in Sarawak will remain closed.
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