The shutdown of non-essential services has had a big impact on local businesses, including the Kempsey Cinema that has been open for just four months.
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The long-awaited cinema was opened to the public on November 28 last year, with local movie fans rejoicing at having a cinema complex in Kempsey.
The announcement by the federal government on March 23 that entertainment venues, casinos, cinemas, gyms, indoor sports venues and churches would close had an immediate impact on all Majestic Cinema sites.
CEO of Majestic Cinemas Kieren Dell said cinemas closing their doors on a global scale is unprecedented.
"This has never happened before on such a large scale. I've never had to close all of the doors to Majestic Cinema sites," he said.
The Kempsey Cinema employs 20 locals, including 15 young people, all of which are now without work.
"We're not like restaurants or pubs that can offer takeaway services. Once the announcement was made to shut the door, our income went to zero," Kieren said.
"The staff have been stood down and we're doing everything we can to support them and help them with applying for Centerlink payments.
"Our staff is our highest priority and we are making sure that they are alright."
Although closing the cinema's doors halted business for Majestic Cinemas, Kieren said the global situation for the film industry was going to impact cinemas here even if they weren't ordered to shut.
"The film industry is a global business and when cinemas started closing in China and the US, big studios started to pull films like the new James Bond movie. 35 movies have been pulled globally, so even if we were to stay open, we wouldn't have had many new movies to screen over the next couple of months."
Kieren said he is unsure how long the Kempsey Cinema will have to stay closed, but in the meantime they will be doing everything they can to ensure the cinema will be ready for business when they get the green light to reopen.
"All of the movies that have been pulled will be released once cinemas are able to open again. That means we will have a rush of new movies hitting our cinemas. And by then there will be nothing left to watch on Netflix.
"We've had some really lovely letters of support from the community. I'm confident we will be able to come back from this and we appreciate the community support."
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