Regal to close all 536 theaters in US as movie market struggles to survive pandemic
Cineworld Group, the parent company of Regal Cinemas, is going dark after announcing the temporary closure of several hundred movie theaters across the U.S. and United Kingdom.
All 536 Regal cinemas in the US and 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse theaters in the U.K. will close Thursday, Oct. 8, the company said in a release Monday. As many as 45,000 employees are at risk of losing their jobs.
The decision comes just days after news that the newest James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” was delayed yet again due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, ABC News reported. Without blockbuster releases, Cineworld Group said it can’t give theater-goers “the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theaters against the backdrop of COVID-19.’’
“This isn’t a decision we made lightly, and we did everything in our power to support safe and sustainable reopenings in all our markets - including meeting, and often exceeding, local health and safety guidelines in our theaters and working constructively with regulators and industry bodies to restore public confidence in our industry,” Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger said in a statement.
The lack of new flicks has also hurt the theater industry, as studios have been slow to release its latest projects. “No Time to Die” was set to be the biggest draw of the year but now won’t hit screens until spring 2021. Pixar’s “Soul” and Warner Bros. anticipated “Wonder Woman 1984” are among the few big movies scheduled to release this year, according to Variety.
“We are like a grocery shop that doesn’t have vegetables, fruit, meat,” Greidinger told The Wall Street Journal. “We cannot operate for a long time without a product.”
Regal reopened theaters in mid-August but with several precautions in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus, including mask requirements, contactless ticket purchases and limiting seating in theaters to 50% capacity, McClatchy News previously reported.
Theaters were also thoroughly sanitized after each showing.
Cineworld said it’s monitoring the situation closely and will announce reopenings “when key markets have more concrete guidance ... and studios are able to bring their pipeline of major releases back to the big screen.”
This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 11:10 AM with the headline "Regal to close all 536 theaters in US as movie market struggles to survive pandemic."