Hollywood studios and Utah theater operators try to navigate a COVID-19 safety landscape — and they hope moviegoers will come back after five months

Are you ready to go back to the movies?

Hollywood is ready. After five months of shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, studios are starting to release major motion pictures again. This weekend, the Russell Crowe revenge thriller “Unhinged” and the young-adult drama “Words on Bathroom Walls” came out. More movies, like director Armando Iannucci’s “The Personal History of David Copperfield” and the long-delayed Marvel movie “The New Mutants,” arrive next weekend. Then, on Labor Day weekend, comes the frequently rescheduled Christopher Nolan thriller “Tenet.”

The movie theaters — most of them, anyway — say they’re ready. They’re putting in COVID-19 safety protocols, like limited seating, distancing in the concession lines, and making everyone wear masks.

The big question remains: Are the moviegoers ready?

That’s the question I explored in a wide-ranging feature, with comments from Hollywood creators, Utah theater operators and public-health experts.

Read it at sltrib.com.