Mark Doherty, owner of Century Cinemas Complex.
CENTURY Cinemas in Letterkenny will reopen from this evening Friday (December 4), showing a host of classic movies.
It comes two months after Mark Doherty, managing director of Century Cinemas at Leckview Lane, turned the key to lock the front door.
At that time, he expressed genuine concern that he may be forced to close the family run business that has been bringing stories to life on the big screen in Letterkenny for over 75 years.
Before the three-month lockdown in March, the Century Cinema complex employed 110 people. By the end of September which it was forced to close again, Mr Doherty had managed to get more than sixty of them back on the books.
Speaking to the Donegal News yesterday, Mr Doherty admitted that there had been some dark days but said that it was now ‘all systems go’ with both the Backstage Grill and cinema reopening this weekend.
In-cinema seat separation, pre-booking of tickets and reduced show times are amongst the safety measures that have been introduced by Mr Doherty to facilitate to reopening of the cinema.
“It’s looking quite good. There are a number of new releases this week while people of a certain age, like myself, are really looking forward to Godfather III which has been re-edited with some scenes added. I didn’t think I would see it on the big screen again,” he said.
The Greatest Showman, Elf, Love Actually and Die Hard are just a few of the classic films which cinemagoers can chose from this week.
For younger viewers there’s Two by Two: Overboard and Wolfwalkers while Wonder Woman (WW 84) is expected to hit our screens before Christmas.
“We’ll have six of our eight screens open on Friday and, slowly but surely, we’ll look to open the remaining two screens in the coming weeks. We would encourage people to buy their tickets online. Customers will be asked to wear their masks on the way into the cinema and, where possible, we would encourage them to keep them on.
“We’re delighted to be back open and I’m particularly happy for my staff. It’s been a tough year for them but, hopefully, 2021 will be better all round,” Mr Doherty said.
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