The Force is with Banko Cinemas.

The Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas, ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks, Bethlehem, has six screenings each of “Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary” (1980) and “Black Panther” (2018), Aug. 7, 8 and 9.

Banko Cinemas is the first indoor movie theater in the Lehigh Valley to reopen in the nearly five months since March 19 when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf ordered non-life-sustaining businesses in Pennsylvania to close their physical locations in an attempt to mitigate the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Ryan Hill, ArtsQuest Programming Director, says in a phone interview that the decision to reopen Banko Cinemas was “a confluence of Disney making their repertoire available and the final weekend of 2020 Musikfest.”

Disney re-released “Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary” and “Black Panther,” Aug. 7 - 13.

Banko Cinemas opted to show the movies Aug. 7, 8 and 9 only.

“We felt once Muskfest is over, the staff deserves a break,” says Hill.

2020 Musikfest, a hybrid of live, streamed and telecast concerts and in-person food vendors at SteelStacks, is July 31 - Aug. 9.

“It’s not an experiment,” says Hill of ArtsQuest reopening Banko Cinemas.

“We feel confident in what we’ve put in place regarding safety measures.

“It’s the work of our operations team, led by Steve Ott [ArtsQuest Director of Facilities and Festivals].”

Banko Cinemas will reopen once movie studios resume rolling out new releases on a regular basis to movie theaters, says Hill.

ArtsQuest’s website had listed “Mulan” and “Tenet,” two highly-anticipated summer 2020 releases, as “coming soon” to Banko Cinemas.

Disney’s live-action “Mulan,” which was to be released Aug. 21 as summer 2020’s first blockbuster, will be available Sept. 4 on Disney + at a cost of $29.99 for “premium access,” in addition to the Disney + monthly subscription cost.

Director Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” set to open Aug. 12, is now to open Sept. 3 in movie theaters.

“If that [opening date for ‘Tenet’] holds, then we will reopen. We’d like to play that movie,” Hill says.

“After that, it’s going to depend on what’s out there,” says Hill of Banko Cinemas.

“We have a Hitchcock festival ready to go,” Hill said.

Banko Cinemas annually has had a Hitchcock film series after Musikfest.

The movie-going experience at Banko Cinemas is quite different for “Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary” and “Black Panther.”

Each of the Banko Cinemas is limited to 25 persons. The Banko Red Cinema holds 200. The Banko Blue Cinema holds 100.

“We were going to open in early July,” says Hill. “Our capacity was going to be 48.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf on July 15 ordered in-door capacity limited to a maximum of 25.

“That’s probably why you don’t see a lot of theaters opening right now from a financial standpoint,” Hill says.

“The backdrop of Musikfest and people already being there allows us to have a little more flexibility.”

At Banko Cinemas, social distancing is in force, and not only for lightsaber battles when “Star Wars: Episode V” is on the screen.

Movie-goers are to stay six feet part. Seating is every other row. At least two seats are empty between movie-goers. Aisle seats are empty. Face masks are required by staff and patrons.

Banko Cinemas are cleaned between each screening. Bathrooms are cleaned hourly.

ArtsQuest follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local guidelines.

Says Hill, looking to the possibility of a coronavirus vaccine or a time when the pandemic is brought under control: “When we get on the other side of this, there’s going to be a glut of cinema.”

And I’ll give that five popcorn boxes out of five popcorn boxes.

ArtsQuest MovieLine: 610-297-7111

For a video, hosted and narrated by Ryan Hill, on measures that ArtsQuest is taking to ensure the safety of patrons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8QK6Txc6eY&feature=emb_title.