The Angela Theatre in Coaldale is ready to welcome back moviegoers after screens were dark for five long months due to COVID-19.

The family-owned theater will host its first showings since March on Saturday and Sunday.

“I said ‘let’s do it,’ even if we have to show old movies, enough is enough,” said Mike Danchak Jr., general manager of the Angela Theatre.

Indoor movie theaters got the green light from the Wolf administration to open up in late August. But at the time, there were very few new releases available for theaters to play, Danchak said.

Danchak said this week seemed to be the right time. They chose “Fatima,” a PG-13 movie and “Unhinged,” a Rated R thriller with Russell Crowe.

“Fatima” is based on the historical events of the Miracle of Fatima, which occurred in 1917. Danchak said religious movies like “Passion of the Christ” have been popular in the past.

The state’s regulations require that theaters operate at 50 percent capacity, with no more than 25 people in a single theater at a time.

Danchak said they are requiring masks with the exception of people who have a health condition, and they are taking steps such as cleaning the theater and putting up Plexiglas in the concession stand area.

While outdoor drive-in theaters have enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence during COVID-19, the pandemic has been particularly tough on indoor theaters. Carbon County’s only multiplex, Mahoning Valley Cinema, announced early on in the pandemic that it was closing permanently.

The Angela has had its share of financial difficulty from the virus as well. They have had to work with banks to continue paying the mortgage. A GoFundMe raised about $3,000 to help the theater.

Danchak said that makes it even more important to get the theater reopened, so they can sustain it and continue to invest in more improvements for moviegoers.

The Angela was closed for nearly three decades between 1970 and 1998. Danchak’s father, Mike Sr., personally renovated the building with help from his wife, Deb, and family members. The theater has served the Panther Valley and beyond since 1998.

Mike Danchak Sr. passed away in 2017. Mike Jr. said his dad would have been shocked to hear of the conditions that movie theaters have faced this year due to the pandemic, but he probably would have put his head down and kept working on the theater he loved.

“It was in his blood. He probably would have just kept on doing repairs until it opened again,” Danchak said.

The Angela Theatre is at 113 E. Phillips St. in Coaldale. For more information, visit theangelatheatre.com.