Coronavirus And Film Delays Prompt Cineworld To Close Over 650 Theaters In US And UK

Cineworld Group said Monday it would be closing over 650 theaters between the U.S. and United Kingdom, due in large part to the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement also comes as the upcoming James Bond film has been delayed to 2021.

It’s the latest example of how hard the film industry, especially traditional cinema chains, is being hit by the global pandemic.

As of Monday, the U.S. has over 7.44 million confirmed cases and over 210,000 reported deaths from coronavirus. The U.K. has over 503,000 confirmed cases and 42,350 reported deaths from the pandemic.

Cineworld said in a press release 536 of its Regal theaters in the U.S. and another 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse theaters in the U.K. would be closing. The closures will affect the jobs of roughly 45,000 employees, though it is not clear if they will be given new positions or let go entirely. No timetable was given as to when Cineworld hoped it could reopen their remaining theaters.

“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 theaters and working constructively with regulators and industry bodies to restore public confidence in our industry,” Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger said in the press release.

Theater chains were among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic once it spread to Europe and the U.S. and forced lockdowns to be instituted to prevent the virus’ spread. Lockdowns forced studios to delay the release of several blockbuster films, which serve as a vital resource for theaters to draw foot traffic. Delays and lockdowns, in turn, hit theater chains hard as they are reliant on revenue from concession sales and chain-specific programs.

Cineworld, in particular, reported a loss of $1.6 billion for the first half of 2020. The company said it is now “assessing their liquidity options” to prevent it from going out of business.

“It seems that Cineworld is hunkering down and they are holding onto their current liquidity position, with the view to probably having a reduced service when they re-open,” CMC Markets analyst David Madden told the Associated Press.

Some of the films originally scheduled to release in 2020 include Marvel Studios’ “Black Widow,” “F9,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” “The King’s Man,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” and “No Time to Die.” Other films, including Disney’s “Mulan” and “Bill and Ted Face the Music,” decided to release digitally on streaming platforms like Disney+ and Amazon Prime.

A handful of films did release in theaters amid the pandemic, the biggest being Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” which released in the U.K. in August and in the U.S. in September.

The lack of other blockbusters and tent-pole films meant “Tenet” had more screens to play on, but it still failed to make a notable financial impact. It grossed over $307 million at the worldwide box office, but estimates said it needed to make between $450-500 million to break even.