The Art House Cinema & Pub and the Babcock Theatre will open their doors this month for moviegoers.
The Art House will open to members May 15 but will be limited to 20 people, said Brian Oestriech, the creative director for both theaters, on Thursday.
The film “Balloon” will be shown at Art House and also streamed on its website for people not comfortable going to the theater.
“It will kind of be our test to see how this socially distanced movie experience goes,” says Oestriech.
Oestriech says the Babcock Theatre will reopen May 22 and will be showing the classic “Jurassic Park”.
Like the Amusement Park Drive-In Theatre in Laureland most all theaters nationwide, the Babcock will not have access to new-release titles, as those will be held for the reopening of all major theaters.
Oestriech says playing the classic film will give people in Billings the chance to come out and enjoy the theater again while they wait for the new titles to be released again.
For the reopening, the Babcock will be operating at a lower capacity to ensure proper distancing.
“We’ve got 700 seats there. We are going to open it up to about 200. We will be able to do per screening to make sure that we are socially distanced with that as well,” says Oestriech.
Oestriech say he is thankful for the community and sponsored support. During the time the theater was closed, none of the Babcock and Art House sponsors ended their memberships.
Oestriech say he hopes people in Billings continue to support film art and culture in downtown Billings.
For more information on showtimes visit the Art House Cinema website at http://arthousebillings.com/
