On Thursday night, for the first time in months, the Lyceum Cinemas in Red Hook held a movie screening. The owner of the theater says he can open safely even though the state hasn’t given them the green light yet.

"When it first began I thought we'd be back open for our busy season starting Memorial Day and then we'd capture our busiest season of the year June, July, August, and it would be a little bump in the road ," said Lyceum Cinemas owner Al Boulay. "Six months later it's not a little bump in the road for anybody."

Lyceum Cinemas was forced to close its doors on March 16. Movie theaters in our region were originally set to reopen in Phase 4 on July 7 but on June 24 theaters were pulled from the list of businesses allowed to reopen.

"It is hard to plan anything when the governor of the state tells you one thing then changes it, then tells you something else and changes that and six months later we have no idea when we’ll be allowed to open," Boulay said.

So Boulay took matters into his own hands. He opened the theater for a complimentary screening by invite only for members of the press, local politicians and others on Thursday night.

Inside the theater, patrons were spaced six feet apart and allowed to remove their masks once seated. Before the movie began they got a preview of the new protocols Lyceum put in place to keep them safe.

"We're going to be cutting our seating capacity to the amount the state mandates probably, hopefully 50 percent," said co-owner Matt Heuer. "If its 20 percent or 33 or 37.5 percent we’ll work with whatever the state tells us."

Moviegoers will be able to reserve their seats online, where they’ll find every other row blocked off. The theater also replaced the filters in their HVAC systems with MERV13 filters.

They’ve also invested in a disinfectant fogger that they’ll use to sanitize the seats after every showing.

"Theater owners have worked very hard to make sure that their staff is safe and that everybody who walks in the door will be safe," said Boulay. "Happiness should not be illegal; we're in the happiness and popcorn business."

Boulay hopes he can continue to stay afloat until the state says they can reopen.

"If we got a green light today I can't guarantee you that we're going to make it to our 30th anniversary next fall."

If you'd like to donate to keep the Lyceum Cinemas afloat you can find a link to their GoFundme on their Facebook page.