NJ Movie Theaters Will Remain Closed—​For Now

NEW JERSEY - Video-on-demand is the way to go in New Jersey as a federal judge has ruled that movie theaters need to remain closed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

AMC Theaters and several other plaintiffs said in their lawsuit, filed July 6, that the closure of cinemas in the Garden State — while churches and other venues have been permitted to reopen to the public — was a violation of the businesses right to due process and equal protection. The suit named New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli.

“In closing indoor movie theater operations, (the state is) promoting the significant governmental interest of protecting public health by keeping closed areas that present heightened risks for COVID-19 transmission,” U.S. District Judge Brian Martinotti wrote in his opinion Tuesday.

Martinotti previously gave Murphy and Persichilli until Aug. 4 to show why movie theaters must remain closed or why they must be treated differently from other venues.

The complete report was posted online by the Hollywood Reporter's Eric Gardner.

Martinotti concluded there is no prior restraint because New Jersey is focused on the "nonexpressive operations of the movie theater" — meaning that New Jersey's orders are not a pretext for censorship. Martinotti also noted the government's regulation does not serve a significant government interest other than "protecting the public from the outbreak of disease during a global pandemic."

Martinotti also said that he accepts the state's classification of these establishments as risky and that New Jersey's executive orders do not constitute a violation of the Equal Protection Clause.

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