Regal Cinemas Parent Cineworld Could Close All Theaters in America and UK
Written by SOURCE on October 4, 2020
As more and more movies have been pushed to 2021, Regal Cinemas’ parent company Cineworld could be closing all of its theaters in the U.S. and the UK Variety reports that the decision comes after the latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, had been delayed until next year due to coronavirus concerns.
The closures are expected to come within a week at the soonest, and the company has already confirmed the closures are currently being discussed. “We can confirm we are considering the temporary closure of our UK and U.S. cinemas, but a final decision has not yet been reached,” the Cineworld Cinemas Twitter account revealed. “Once a decision has been made we will update all staff and customers as soon as we can.”
Cineworld could be closing 543 Regal Cinema venues, and all of its cinemas across the United Kingdom and Ireland this week. While the closures would be “temporary,” it’s unclear if all the theaters will reopen when it is safe to do so. It’s worth highlighting that Regal is the second biggest domestic theater chian in North America, and Cineworld is the biggest operator of theaters in the United Kingdom. The company plans to write to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden in order to inform them that their business right now is “unviable,” especially as major tentpole movies like No Time to Die and Black Widow have been hit with major delays for the second time.
On Friday, MGM and Universal announced plans to delay No Time to Die until April 2, 2021. That’s a whole year after it was originally planned to debut in theaters. Initially, it was delayed until November near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster has underperformed at the domestic box office so far, grossing a disappointing $41 million so far.
