BATON ROUGE - The Cinemark movie theater in Perkins Rowe reopened this weekend more than 4 months after closing when COVID-19 first struck Louisiana.

"It's nice that things are getting back to normal, sort of," Austin Lambert said.

Lambert was one of the first customers to visit Cinemark when it re-opened.

"It was wonderful. It was very clean, very nice. We had a great time. We watched the first Harry Potter movie," Lambert said.

Don Loehar and Sandra Mundine say they are big moviegoers and were very happy to spend a day in front of the big screen.

"That's one of our biggest forms of entertainment, going to the movie theater," Loehar said.

But before the couple went inside the theater they wanted to make sure it was safe.

"We want to know how many people are going to be allowed in the theater? Are they going to practice social distancing? Are you going to have to wear a mask? I'm not afraid to go if they have precautions available," Mundine said.

Cinemark operators say they are taking all of the proper COVID-19 precautions by requiring visitors to wear a face mask and only allowing a certain amount of visitors in the building. 

Even though Cinemark is offering reduced prices on tickets and concessions, many still feel hesitant to enter a movie theater.

"I'm very leery of it." Bob Noel said.

The Baton Rouge resident says he's not going to a movie theater again until a vaccine is approved for the coronavirus.

"In the pandemic of 1918, movies were great places to pass the disease and catch it," Noel said.

More local movie theaters may reopen once the economy moves into phase 3. A decision from the governor could come as early as next month.