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French cinemas will be able to reopen Dec. 15, after more than a month of COVID-19 lockdown, although strict curfew measures will remain in place, meaning theaters will have to stay closed between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.
The news, announced by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday evening as he unveiled a plan for a gradual, and partial, lifting of France’s strict coronavirus restrictions, means some titles — including Warner Bros. Wonder Woman 1984 — will have a crack at the French theatrical market in the last month of 2020.
Wonder Woman 1984, which will do a crossplatform release in theaters and on Warners’ streaming platform HBO Max in the United States on Dec. 25, will roll out in French cinemas Dec.16. The title will have a theatrical release in most of Europe, bowing Dec. 16 in the U.K., Dec. 18 in Spain, and Dec. 23 in Germany.
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In France, the 9 p.m. curfew could put a damper on any potential box office bounce. But Macron on Tuesday noted that the country will use a “time-stamp system” to allow spectators who attend films that start before 9 p.m. to return home post-curfew. The system will allow theaters to hold evening screenings. But Macron did not say if the system would also apply to late screenings, which in France often start between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. or later.
The French Prime Minister Jean Castex will hold a press conference Thursday morning to give further details of the easing of the restrictions.
France went into a second nationwide lockdown Oct. 30 as COVID-19 infections spiked. But the measures appear to have had an impact. New daily infection rates, which hit a record of 60,000 cases Nov. 5, have fallen steadily in recent weeks and were down to 4,300 cases over the 24-hour period to Nov. 22.
France is also hopeful that it will be able to quickly roll out a national vaccination campaign starting in the beginning of January.
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