JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Severe storms caused widespread power outages across the area, affecting traffic lights and leaving thousands of homes without electricity.
However, it was the outage at the Pavilion at Durbin Park Cinemark that stole the spotlight, inconveniencing hundreds of moviegoers who had gathered to watch the summer blockbuster hit, Barbie.
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Despite the wild weather, no one expected the power to go out inside the Durbin Park movie theatre preventing people from seeing the biggest box office hit of the summer.
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Zachary Fuller and his family were among those looking forward to the Barbie movie experience, but their excitement turned into disappointment when the lights suddenly went out.
“I know I’m smiling a little bit, but my daughter is a little sad,” Fuller expressed, holding back his own disappointment.
According to the Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) outage map, over four thousand customers lost power during the Sunday afternoon storms, and one of the affected areas was the Durbin Park vicinity.
JEA attributed the outage to a tree limb falling on a wire during severe weather conditions.
Cinemark, the theater management, confirmed that the power outage resulted in the cancellation of one of the Barbie showtimes and also affected other screenings. Additionally, neighboring stores within the shopping center also experienced power loss due to the incident.
Despite the setback, many moviegoers were undeterred and eagerly waited for the power to be restored. Once the lights came back on, some even showed their dedication to Barbie by dressing up in Barbie-themed attire.
Connor Gooding, Argun Polaty, and Issac Ilafl were among those who donned their Barbie gear.
“First off, there was a lot of trends about getting dressed up for the movie, so we said we have to do it,” said Polaty.
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To compensate for the inconvenience, Cinemark’s guest services provided rain check passes to those present during the power outage. The passes can be used at any time of the day and can be redeemed in person at the guest service area.
When Action News Jax approached for a statement regarding backup generators at the shopping center, the developer, GATE, declined to comment, stating that the provision of generators is a tenant-by-tenant decision.
Despite the disappointment, Zachary Fuller remained optimistic, stating that his kids will get another chance to see Barbie, planning to try again the following day.
Action News JAX reached out to Cinemark Corporate to inquire about the lack of backup generators at the theatre, but no response has been received at the time of reporting.
As the community recovers from the storms and power outages, many are grateful that the situation didn’t deter moviegoers’ enthusiasm for the long-awaited Barbie movie.
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