Regal Cinemas temporarily shuts down in U.S.

Regal Cinemas is temporarily closing down all of its U.S. locations while its parent considers UK closures as well.

R.T. Watson reported the news for the Wall Street Journal:

The second-largest cinema chain in the U.S. is closing all of its locations nationwide after reopening in August, escalating the pandemic-driven crisis facing the entertainment industry.

Cineworld Group CNWGY 12.82% PLC’s Regal Entertainment Group’s decision to suspend operations at its more than 500 locations this coming Thursday follows a cascade of postponements for big-budget Hollywood films, most recently the James Bond title “No Time to Die.”

Reuters’ Kate Holton and Aakriti Bhalla wrote:

The Regal cinema owner, which began reopening in July after COVID-19 lockdown restrictions started to ease, employs 37,482 people across 787 venues in the U.S., Britain and central Europe, with 546 sites in America.

“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,” the company said.

Jazmin Goodwin from CNN reported:

Last month, the Regal Cinema owner reported a loss of $1.6 billion in the first half of 2020 as revenue slumped by 67%. It also warned of the need to raise more funds in case a second wave of coronavirus leads to more “prolonged” shutdowns.

More than a dozen major films, including “Black Widow,” “Tenet” and “Wonder Woman 1984,” have either been delayed or skipped theaters altogether and gone digital, as in the case of Disney’s “Mulan.”