Like so many industries, America's movie theaters are floundering in the wake of COVID-19, with theater chains shutting down across the nation and California, the heart of the filmmaking industry, place on Stay-at-Home order. While streamers and Digital are unlikely to get out clean (with filming productions shut down internationally, what happens if they run out of the content they have in the can?), it's movie theaters that have taken the earliest and biggest blow.

With that in mind, none other than five-time Oscar nominee Christopher Nolan has penned a heartfelt op-ed in the Washington Post, reminding film fans that movie theaters are a unique place of community in the world that we'll need more than ever when this is all over -- and they're going to need us to.

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Image via Searchlight Pictures

While chains like AMC and Regal have shut down, as well as smaller businesses like Alamo Drafthouse, Nolan begins his piece with the story of the perhaps less familiar B&B Theaters; a family-run establishment in the midwest that shuttered more than 400 establishments this week. What Nolan wants to make clear, and which is too often forgotten until extraordinary moments such as these, is that the film industry is made up of countless individuals well outside the spotlight. He explains,

"When people think about movies, their minds first go to the stars, the studios, the glamour. But the movie business is about everybody: the people working the concession stands, running the equipment, taking tickets, booking movies, selling advertising and cleaning bathrooms in local theaters. Regular people, many paid hourly wages rather than a salary, earn a living running the most affordable and democratic of our community gathering places."

Nolan's support of the theatrical industry isn't new, and it certainly hasn't wavered. The filmmaker has long been a proponent of film over digital, spoken out against Netflix's reluctance to embrace theatrical distribution, and even ribbed Steven Soderbergh about coming back "from the dark side". But here he makes clear that his support of movie theaters isn't just for the pivotal role they play in the tradition of cinema, but how they create unique social spaces in our lives.

Nolan's piece continues,

"I hope that people are seeing our exhibition community for what it really is: a vital part of social life, providing jobs for many and entertainment for all... As a filmmaker, my work can never be complete without those workers and the audiences they welcome."

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Image via Warner Bros.

And in this extraordinary time, Nolan emphasizes that movie theaters need our help more than ever, not just from the powers that be, but from us, the film community who can help keep them alive.

"In addition to the help theater employees need from the government, the theatrical exhibition community needs strategic and forward-thinking partnership from the studios. The past few weeks have been a reminder, if we needed one, that there are parts of life that are far more important than going to the movies. But, when you consider what theaters provide, maybe not so many as you might think."

But it's not all doom and gloom and movie theaters, don't just need us. Nolan says that we'll need that special, singular communal movie-going experience more than ever when we get through this. Ending things on a message of hope, he breaks down how those two needs may prove mutually beneficial in the future,

"Movie theaters have gone dark, and will stay that way for a time. But movies, unlike unsold produce or unearned interest, don’t cease to be of value. Much of this short-term loss is recoverable. When this crisis passes, the need for collective human engagement, the need to live and love and laugh and cry together,will be more powerful than ever. The combination of that pent-up demand and the promise of new movies could boost local economies and contribute billions to our national economy. We don’t just owe it to the 150,000 workers of this great American industry to include them in those we help, we owe it to ourselves. We need what movies can offer us."

Be sure to read Nolan's full piece over on Washington Post, and for more on the unfolding theatrical closures, read NATO's (the National Association of Theater Owners) statement to congress.