Cineworld to Close Regal Movie Theaters in U.S., U.K. as Coronavirus Crushes Industry
Movie theater mega chain Cineworld, the world’s second largest cinema operator, is closing screens across the U.S. and U.K. as the coronavirus epidemic continues to keep audiences away and thwart block buster theatrical releases.
The Regal cinema owner, which began tentative reopenings in July after initial coronavirus lockdown restrictions started to ease, employs 37,482 people across 787 venues in the U.S., Britain and central Europe. There are another 546 sites in America.
News of the closures come after it was announced Friday the release of the new James Bond movie, No Time To Die, has been pushed into next year.
This postponement crushes hopes for a 2020 industry rebound, Reuters reports, as more and more films are pushed into 2021 or go straight to video-on-demand releases instead of getting traditional week to months-long runs in cinemas. Starring Daniel Craig, the film was scheduled to open Nov. 20, but is now slated to premiere April 2, its official website said Friday.
“We understand the delay will be disappointing to our fans, but we now look forward to sharing No Time To Die next year,” MGM, Universal and Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in a joint statement.
Britain’s Sunday Times said Cineworld had written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Culture Minister Oliver Dowden to warn the industry was becoming “unviable” because of the decision by film studios to postpone big-budget releases.
The London-listed company warned investors on Sept. 24 it might need to raise more money if its sites were forced to shut again, after it swung to a $1.64 billion first-half loss. Its shares have fallen 82 percent this year.
The loss of thousands of cinema jobs around the globe is just another consequence of the spread of the coronavirus, which was first detected last November in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Due to combined efforts of the Chinese Communist Party to hide the outbreak from the world and the complicity of the World Health Organization who lied about the virus’s lethality while praising China for its response, more jobs are expected to be lost with little prospect of ever returning.
Shaken and shuttered! Cineworld closes all 546 of theaters across US, and 787 venues in the UK and Ireland after suffering $1.64 billion first-half loss and just days after release date for new James Bond was pushed back to 2021
- Cineworld, the world's second-biggest cinema operator, will close all its screens in the United States, Britain and Ireland this week
- Cineworld employs 37,482 people across 787 venues in US, Britain and Europe
- In the US, Cineworld runs Regal Cinemas, which has 546 venues
- On Friday the release of the new James Bond movie No Time To Die was pushed to April 2021, crushing hopes for a 2020 industry rebound amid pandemic
- The company saw a $1.64 billion first-half loss and its shares fell 82% this year
Cineworld, the world's second-biggest cinema operator, will close all its screens in the United States, Britain and Ireland this week after the latest James Bond film's release was postponed to next year.
In the US Cineworld runs 546 Regal Cinema theaters that started to re-open in August.
Globally, Cineworld employs 37,482 people across 787 venues in the US, Britain and central Europe.
On Friday the release of the new James Bond movie No Time To Die was pushed to April 2021. The delay, along with other postponed blockbuster releases, crushed hopes for a 2020 industry rebound as rising rates of the coronavirus prompt new restrictions and keep viewers away, a person familiar with the matter said.
Regal is the second largest domestic chain in the US, while Cineworld is the UK’s biggest cinema operator.
Cineworld, the world's second-biggest cinema operator, will close all its screens in the United States, Britain and Ireland this week following the delayed release of the newest James Bond film No Time to Die
In the US Cineworld runs 546 Regal Cinema theaters that started to re-open in August. A view of the Regal movie theater in Times Square New York above
Britain's Sunday Times said the London-listed company had written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Culture Minister Oliver Dowden to warn that the industry was becoming unviable.
On Friday the release of the new James Bond movie No Time To Die was pushed to April 2021, crushing hopes for a 2020 industry rebound amid pandemic. Movie poster for No Time to Die above
It warned investors on September 24 that it might need to raise more money if its sites were forced to shut again, after it swung to a $1.64 billion first-half loss. Its shares have fallen 82 percent this year.
Sources indicate a reopening date hasn’t yet been set, but cinemas could stay closed until 2021.
Efforts to get audiences back into theaters have proved disappointing, suffering a big blow in major markets like New York and California were theaters are still closed under lockdown guidelines.
While bigger chains like AMC Entertainment, Cineworld and others have reopened many locations, crowds have been thin. Small and mid-sized theatre companies have said they may not survive the impact of the pandemic.
Cineworld had said viewers returned to watch Tenet, a Christopher Nolan spy thriller that became a test case for the wider industry when it became the biggest release to open in cinemas in late August since schedules were torn up in March.
But the $200 million movie grossed just $41.2million in the US and Canada through last weekend, making some production studios wary about releasing their high-budget movies, as per the Wall Street Journal.
But the postponement of Bond, plus delays to other big releases such as superhero movie Black Widow and Steven Spielberg's West Side Story give cinema lovers little reason to return.
Cineworld declined to comment.
A closed down Regal movie theater, which is owned by Cineworld, pictured above in Atlanta, Georgia
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