Paris Movie Theaters Reopen After Terrorist Attacks
By Rhonda Richford, The Hollywood Reporter
Gaumont-Pathe, Paris’ largest cinema chain, reopened Monday for business as usual. The chain had closed Saturday afternoon and remained closed Sunday following the terror attacks in Paris Friday night.
The UGC and MK2 chains, which reopened midday Sunday, continued to keep their doors open Monday.
The chains represent a majority of Paris’ screens and show many of the U.S. blockbusters here. SPECTRE, An Irrational Man, and The Martian are among those playing at the chains.
The Grand Rex, which is hosting a special engagement of The Good Dinosaur a week ahead of its U.S. opening, also reopened Sunday and remained opened Monday.
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The city of Paris remains defiant in the wake of the attacks, with businesses and restaurants open for business as usual, despite warnings from French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Valls said Monday that his government believed more terror attacks were being planned in France and other European countries.
“We know that operations were being prepared and are still being prepared, not only against France but other European countries too,” he said, according to news agency AFP.
France held a nationwide minute of silence at midday local time to pay its respect for the victims of Friday’s attacks.
All French public radio stations stopped broadcasting at noon to respect the nationwide minute of silence. They then broadcast the Second Movement (“Funeral March”) from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3.
All modes of public transport (bus, metro, tramway, RER) also ceased running for one minute at noon.
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French television also returned to normal programming Monday after canceling entertainment shows and going wall-to-wall with news coverage over the weekend. As of Monday morning, France 3 and D8 continued to run news specials, but top-rated channels TF1, France 2 and M6 aired soap operas and game shows as usual.
The television stations also observed the minute of silence at noon.
Many business and restaurants, including the fast-food chain Quick, had signs posted on their doors stating they would be observing a moment of silence at noon but were open for business as usual.
