Future Life

What do the next six months look like? What businesses will re-open and under what conditions? If they do, can they survive with the reduced revenues those conditions will entail?

Museums in many areas, such as Philadelphia and New York, have re-opened or will re-open in the coming weeks. They are all requiring masks and social distancing and restricting attendance to some percentage of capacity (the exact figure depending on rules in their location). I suspect that the capacity restriction will be moot, as few people will wish to visit under those terms.

Movie chains, notably AMC, are announcing re-openings, again based on the regulations in the respective theaters' regions. What, exactly, they will be showing remains a question. Hollywood has not been in production, not even in post-production, for months. There are some major films that were completed and ready for release in the spring, but some of them have already gone direct to streaming and there is the possibility that the studios will prefer not to release others until the possibility of a strong box office is more viable. Some places have announced plans to show "classic" films for the time being (but "classic" seems to mean nothing older than the mid-1980s). Will that draw people back to the cinema?

Live theater--Broadway, local and community--seems to be in the most trouble. The Broadway theaters do not expect to be operating before February...and even then, a lot of theaters will be dark, as the shows they had on the boards have decided not to try to re-open and there are few new ones ready to open so soon. Local theaters rely to a great extent on the national touring companies, all of which are currently shut down and will likely require months to be back in operation. Community theater, with which I am very familiar, has now lost half of last season and probably the beginning of the 2020-21 season as well. In some cases, that could mean losing their venues, as the places they rent from have either moved on or will want higher fees.

Restaurants, already re-opened in some form in most areas, may do better. They have had some revenue thanks to take-out over the past few months. The issue, again, will be whether they can be profitable with reduced seating.

Am I missing anything?