Trade org says Senate Democrats’ laws will present a lot wanted help to 1000’s of smaller film theaters
As Congress and the White House appear poised to undertake some form of COVID-19 aid invoice, the National Association of Theater Owners on Tuesday pushed for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s plan to supply much-needed help to struggling film theaters.
The HEROES Small Business Lifeline Act, co-written by Schumer with fellow Democratic senators Chris Coons, Jeanne Shaheen and Ben Cardin, extends the Paycheck Protection Plan created within the first spherical of aid laws via March 2021 and expands the Small Business Administration’s debt aid program for as much as a 12 months.
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For arts and leisure, the invoice additionally offers devoted help to companies that depend on giant gatherings, together with film theaters, reside theaters, live performance venues and eating places — although the precise quantity of aid obtainable was not instantly clear.
“The movie theater operators of America are desperate for help from Congress. Without such help, 70% of the theaters in the country could file for bankruptcy or close permanently by the end of the year,” NATO mentioned in an announcement. “More than 70,000 jobs could be lost permanently. While many small business theater operators were able to access Paycheck Protection Program loans, given the duration of the pandemic, those funds have been exhausted and theater revenues are still close to nothing. The current rules of the program remain challenging for theaters that are shuttered or doing little business.”
“We are grateful that Senators Schumer, Cardin and Shaheen have included relief for movie theaters as part of the Save Our Stages initiative and that SOS is included in their COVID relief bill. We seek a bipartisan solution for pandemic relief now that would include these provisions to preserve moviegoing in America.”
Democrats and Republicans have been at a stalemate for months over COVID-19 laws. The two main sticking factors have been the quantity of federal help supplied to state and native governments and a Republican-supported legal responsibility defend for companies ought to their workers contract COVID-19.
The HEROES Small Business Lifeline Act is being added to a $2.2 trillion aid plan handed by the Democrat-controlled House final month. However, Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing ahead on his personal $1.6 trillion aid plan that features the legal responsibility defend as he’s anticipated to place it to a vote within the Senate subsequent week.
As studios proceed to push main movie releases again into 2021, all the movie show business is dealing with an existential problem. AMC, the nation’s largest theater chain, has warned that it may run out of cash by 12 months’s finish, whereas Regal Cinemas has closed all of its places nationwide. With the potential exception of Universal’s “The Croods: A New Age,” which is releasing below a particular cope with AMC to shorten its unique theatrical window, movies set for launch in October and November have both moved to a launch date subsequent 12 months or straight to streaming.