CEO Mooky Greidinger, of Cineworld PLC announced to the city confirmation that the company will be closing temporally all 536 of its American operations Regal Cinemas.
In the U.K. this also includes all of it’s Picturehouse & Cineworld sites across the U.K. 5,500 jobs across the nation are now at risk, with another 45,000 worldwide.
“This is not a decision we have taken lightly and we did everything within our power to support safe sustainable reopening in all of our markets”
In a further statement to the city they denounced the delays of films such as James Bond No Time To Die, & the continued closure of markets in NY/LA as making the business unviable in the current climate.
“In turn, without these new releases, Cineworld cannot provide customers in both the US & UK- the company’s primary markets with the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back”
Staff first found out after an article from the front page of The Sunday Times leaked the news of the cinema closures.
After a tense 48 hours Cineworld finally confirmed on Twitter they were considering this decision.
Cineworld’s closure confirmed and it’s to a due to lack of blockbuster releases
We can confirm we are considering the temporary closure of our U.K. and US cinemas, but a final decision has not yet been reached. Once a decision has been made we will update all staff and customers as soon as we can.
— Cineworld Cinemas (@cineworld) October 4, 2020
Read more: Cineworld Loses £1 Billion Due To COVID-19
For the news to hit the city this morning prior to speaking the staff, is another blow to staff who have had to find out everything via the news.
Speaking to employees within the company they are angry at “not being told anything again”.
Making reference to how the initial job losses that were reversed in March after the furlough scheme was introduced in the U.K. was mostly revealed over social media.
As Cineworld look to close sites on Thursday it remains to be seen what financial packages will happen for staff.
And if other chains will follow suit; the privately-owned Empire Cinemas, Odeon or Vue. Odeon is also in a financial fall.
AMC the owner of Odeon is also struggling under $5 billion of debt, in a very similar situation to Cineworld and may also struggle to survive.
Small Screen has reached out to Cineworld for comments and haven’t received a response at the current time.
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