REGAL AND CINEWORLD THEATERS TO CLOSE IN THE US AND UK THIS WEEK

Cineworld announced on Monday the indefenite temporary suspension of operations and closures of all 543 Regal Cinemas locations in the U.S. as well as 127 movie theaters in the U.K. and Ireland. The closures will begin to take place on Thursday. “As major US. markets, mainly New York, remained closed and without guidance on reopening timing, studios have been reluctant to release their pipeline of new films,” the company said in a statement. “In turn, without these new releases, Cineworld cannot provide customers in both the U.S. and the U.K., the company’s primary markets."

The announcement followed MGM and Universal’s decision on Friday to postpone the release of the new James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” from November 20 to April 2021. The Disney/Pixar film “Soul” now stands as the sole remaining major release in November and is expected to move as well.  The company stated that strong commercial films are needed to reopen the cinemas. “We are like a grocery shop that doesn’t have vegetables, fruit, meat,” Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger said. “We cannot operate for a long time without a product.”

The Cineworld, which recently reopened its theaters in August, announced that the closures are indefinite. Reopening depends solely on the release schedule set by the studios, according to Regal. The closures will impact approximately 40,000 employees across the US, and 5,500 employees in the UK, bringing a total of more than 45,000 affected employees. “Regal will continue to monitor the situation closely and will communicate any plans to resume operations at the appropriate time, when key markets have more concrete guidance on their reopening status and, in turn, studios can bring their pipeline of major releases back to the big screen,” the company says in a statement.

Movie theaters, with the aid of the National Association of Theater Owners and the Motion Picture Association, have attempted to reopen with a series enforced safety measures upon reopening, including social distancing, capacity limits, deep cleanings in theaters, and updates to ventilation and air filtration systems to reduce the spread of the virus inside the theaters, but lack of popular new titles to general fears of contracting the virus have ruined attempts to revive the box office.

After Disney moved its remake of “Mulan” to Disney+, Warner Bros.’ “Tenet” remained the sole major studio release to arrive in theaters, grossing a domestic total of just USD 45 million after five weekends in more than 2,900 theaters. "No Time to Die" is the latest movie to move in a chaotic year that's seen almost every major big-budget film get pushed back until 2021, including Marvel’s “Black Widow” and Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.” “This is not a decision we made lightly, and we did everything in our power to support safe and sustainable reopenings in all of our markets, including meeting, and often exceeding, local health and safety guidelines in our theatres and working constructively with regulators and industry bodies to restore public confidence in our industry.”