Classic Cinemas eyes Feb. 26 reopening for Oswego, Sandwich theaters

Now that Kendall County is in Phase 4 of the state’s COVID-19 mitigations, many area movie theaters are reopening their doors. But Classic Cinemas Kendall 11, at 95 Fifth Street in Oswego, and Cinema 7, at 101 Duvick Ave. in Sandwich, won’t open until Feb. 26, CEO and owner Chris Johnson said.

Why? It isn’t because of the pandemic.

“Our biggest issue is the number of new movies keeps getting smaller and smaller,” Johnson said. “But when we open, we plan on opening and never closing again.”

Faced with a pandemic and a film shortage, the local theater reopened only briefly last summer, the only time throughout the entirety of the public health crisis.

While the theater did not qualify for Business Interruption Grants through the state of Illinois, it received a grant from the village of Oswego that helped keep staff paid and theater technology in working order.

“The good news is we’ve been very busy being frugal,” Johnson said in a previous interview last December. “But at the same time, we’re reworking relationships, making it so that for sure we’ll make it through for when we’re able to reopen.”