The country's biggest cinema chain is halving its capacity to slow the transmission of coronavirus.
Omniplex Cinemas will be leaving every second seat empty at all screenings starting tonight, including at its theatres in Rathmines and Balbriggan.
Its booking system will lay out cinema seats in a "chequerboard" pattern to allow movie fans to keep a metre away from people according to the WHO's guidelines on social separation.
Mark Anderson, operations director with Omniplex Cinemas, says people will still be allowed sit together if they want.
"There will be a vacant seat in between them, [but] where they want to sit and what type of social distancing they want to engage in -- if they want to sit beside each other they can sit beside each other. We're only encouraging social distancing by implementing this measure."
"This isn't about being public-spirited -- this is about reinforcing the safety of going to the cinema," he said. "It's an enjoyable experience and it should be a safe experience and if people have some degree of anxiety about these social gatherings, going to the cinema is one area we want to reinforce a positive atmosphere to reduce people's anxiety," he said.
Omniplex is also increasing the level of cleaning in theatres and setting up hand sanitiser stations in cinema foyers.
