Telshor 12 opens for indoor movie screenings; drive-in discontinued

LAS CRUCES – Allen Theatre’s Telshor 12 is opening for indoor movie screening as of Friday, April 30. The drive-in will be discontinued.

The theater made the announcement after the state’s Red-Yellow-Green-Turquoise framework criteria was amended Wednesday. Indoor movie screenings have been discontinued since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.

New biweekly goals include having no more than 10 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people, an average of no more than 7.5% positive COVID-19 tests and a fully vaccinated rate at or above 35%.

Doña Ana County is officially in the Green Level as of Friday, meaning two of the three criteria have been met. This allows large entertainment venues to operate at 25% of maximum indoor capacity and 50% of outdoor space capacity.

The opening of the Telshor 12 drive-in has been in the plans for several weeks to show the locally grown film “Walking With Herb.” However, due to the opening up of indoor operation, Russell Allen of Allen Theatres said the drive-in will now be “a really distant memory.” The set-up will be taken down, but Allen said they will likely keep it handy for another month in the case indoor screenings are not permitted again.

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“Walking With Herb,” “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Wonder Woman 1984,” “Mortal Kombat,” “The Unholy” and “Raya and the Last Dragon” are available to watch inside the Telshor 12. The first screening time is 2 p.m. Friday.

Allen said the the theater already had staff in place for a planned drive-in opening for "Walking With Herb" and projectors were already checked, so pivoting to indoor operation was not difficult.  

Telshor 12 and the Red Rock 10 in Gallup are currently the only New Mexico locations open. But a Farmington location will be reopening next week. Allen said Las Cruces’ Cineport 10 will likely open around the beginning of July, when more films are available to book.

“We're still probably three weeks away from reopening the rest of the circuit,” Allen said. He added that he appreciates the new state gating criteria as it is “more stable.”

Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, lromero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.