10.05.20 - Cineworld Group, the owner of Regal Cinemas, will suspend operations at all of its theaters in the United States and the United Kingdom beginning at the end of this week - which will affect 45,000 employees of the company.
The news comes just days after the latest James Bond film, "No Time to Die," was delayed until spring 2021 — the latest blow to the movie industry. A second wave of coronavirus is also hitting Britain and many US states.
In a statement issued today, the company said it could not provide customers "with the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theaters against the backdrop of Covid-19."
"Cineworld will continue to monitor the situation closely and will communicate any future plans to resume operations in these markets at the appropriate time, when key markets have more concrete guidance on their reopening status and, in turn, studios are able to bring their pipeline of major releases back to the big screen," CEO Mooky Greidinger stated.
Cineworld recently reported a loss of $1.6 billion in the first half of the year as revenue slumped by 67% due to lockdowns and restrictions placed as a result of the pandemic. The company also warned of the need to raise more cash if a second wave of coronavirus leads to more shutdowns and restrictions. In its statement issued recently, the company assured it was "assessing several sources of additional liquidity and all liquidity raising options are being considered."
Source: Bloomberg
