Cinemas in all states to reopen on Sept 9 for fully vaccinated

Only fully vaccinated moviegoers can enter the hall. Photo: The Star

Cinemas can open its doors once again to Malaysian moviegoers starting from Thursday (Sept 9).

However, only those who are fully vaccinated can enter the halls. The previous SOP of keeping the hall at half capacity still stands.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced today (Sept 7) that watching movies at the cinema with 50% capacity limit will be allowed in all states.

In a statement, Ismail Sabri said the relaxation in SOPs for the entertainment sector is set to benefit more than one million Malaysians, including artistes and workers in the industry.

"This relaxation will also benefit more than 19,000 companies in the creative sector," he said.

Cinemas have been pretty much closed for more than a year since March 2020.

According to the Malaysian Association of Film Exhibitors (MAFE) on Sept 1, the industry has suffered losses of more than RM600mil and that the livelihoods of more than 20,000 Malaysians in the film and cinema workforce are at risk.

In that statement, it mentioned that if movie theatres were allowed to reopen, all the cinemas would be implementing strict SOPs including admittance to fully vaccinated audiences only with proof of digital certificate of Covid-19 vaccination; encourage contactless purchases for movie tickets & F&B; fully vaccinated staff members manning the cinemas; enhanced PPEs for staff.

"With these enhanced SOPs, all cinemas in Malaysia are prepared and ready to welcome audiences back to a safer and more secure movie-watching experience," said MAFE.