Grab your popcorn and get seated for a night at the movies!

It’s been a long time between sessions for lovers of the silver screen, but the good news is Orange’s Odeon 5 Cinema is set to reopen for business next week.

“It has been quite difficult,” said Odeon 5 Manager Helen McBurnie of the forced shutdown of the past four months.

The government mandated closure of cinemas was officially lifted last week on July 1, but the real challenge, said Helen, has been confirming just what they would be showing once they reopened.

“The distributors have been holding or moving content every day, so that has been the difficulty,” she said.

With most international markets still affected by limitations on public gatherings, it has forced distributors to postpone the release of some movies until they can guarantee a better financial return.

“And that is why cinemas haven't or aren't opening until later. Even for when we open on July 16th we had things lined up that have now moved to the 30th and beyond,” said Helen.

“A lot of the big blockbusters are being held over, because they're the ones that bring the big return. When you are effectively losing the American, Chinese and Korean markets, which are huge, they are really hard decisions for them to make.

“But there is still content coming through, and we will be running all new product, not bring back old stuff.

But when the Odeon 5 reopens next Thursday, things will run a little differently.

“We’ll only be open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and we'll be doing limited session per day — a maximum of four at the moment in each cinema,” said Helen.

“We have new social distancing procedures, all staff have done infection control training, we will be doing numbered seating, bubble seating they’re calling it, to allow gaps between people.”

Between sessions, extra time has been allowed to use a fogging disinfectant to clean the cinema. And similar procedures are in place to clean and disinfect the foyer and toilets on a regular basis.

The new seating arrangements will limit the cinemas to approximately 25 per cent of their full capacity.

“We would definitely encourage online bookings, it is definitely going to be the way of the future. That’s not to say we still won’t take bookings over the counter, we will, but with the limited amount of seating available, people are going to want to book,” said Helen.

Upcoming movies and session times can be found on the Odeon 5 website (www.odeon5.com.au) and regular updates are provided on their Facebook page.