• Visitors can check out the Forum FAQ by clicking this link. You have to register before you can post: click the REGISTER link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. View our Forum Privacy Policy.
  • Want to receive the latest contracting news and advice straight to your inbox? Sign up to the ContractorUK newsletter here. Every sign up will also be entered into a draw to WIN £100 Amazon vouchers!

End of a cinema era

Collapse
X
  •  
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    End of a cinema era

    Cineworld to close all UK and US venues putting thousands of jobs at risk | Business | The Guardian

    Britain’s biggest cinema chain, Cineworld, is to shut all its UK and US venues, putting up to 5,500 jobs in Britain at risk, after the latest James Bond movie was delayed into next year.

    Cineworld, which owns the Regal cinema and Picturehouse chains, is understood to be preparing to announce plans to close all its 127 theatres in the UK as soon as Monday. It is also closing all its 536 Regal cinemas in the US.

    Its cinema in Dublin, its only venue in Ireland, had to close due to tightened Covid-19 restrictions two weeks ago, and it seems unlikely it will reopen.

    The premiere of the new 007 flick, No Time To Die, has been twice postponed, from April to 12 November, and now to April 2021, in a big blow to the cinema industry.

    The company, the world’s second-biggest cinema operator, has written to Boris Johnson and the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, this weekend to warn them that the industry has become “unviable”.

    Film studios are postponing blockbuster releases because audience numbers have been slow to recover since the Covid-19 outbreak. Other releases that have been pushed into 2021 include Black Widow and West Side Story.

    Cineworld’s theatres reopened in July following the coronavirus lockdown, but it flagged up doubts over its ability to survive a second lockdown in September when it reported a £1.3bn loss for the first half of the year.

    It said then that admissions had been growing since it reopened 561 out of 778 sites worldwide, thanks in part to local films and the release of Christopher Nolan’s spy movie Tenet. But it warned that its financial future could be in doubt and that it would need to raise more money if authorities introduced further restrictions to combat the next wave of the virus.

    The Cineworld Action Group, which represents employees around the world, said staff had not been consulted about the company’s plans. It is understood that news of the closures, which was first reported by the Sunday Times, leaked out before staff could be informed.
    "You’re just a bad memory who doesn’t know when to go away" JR

    #2
    Such a shame. I go through phases with cinema going, depending on what's on of course, and have only gone to a large chain like Cineworld when that's the only option. Ticket prices have been getting higher and higher making watching a film more of a special treat than something you can do regularly.

    Comment


      #3
      Postponing Bond (for increased profit) seems a bit of a blunder to me if there are no cinemas to screen it. That, and it will be old news by next year.

      Comment


        #4
        Bond studios hold it back for more profit. Rather than supporting the industry in a desperate time of need. Shame.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by saptastic View Post
          Bond studios hold it back for more profit. Rather than supporting the industry in a desperate time of need. Shame.

          alternative view no-one will go and watch it in the cinema now so hold it back from sky & netflix so the cinemas get a look in next year. I suspect Sony, Sky & Amazon etc. will buy the cinemas cheap and reopen next year.
          Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

          Comment


            #6
            Cinemas have been in decline for years. They're an outdated business model and frankly customers have better things to do than pay £10 a pop to sit in dirt laden scummy cinema seats and eat overpriced grimy nachos/hotdogs/chocolates. Before lockdown I'd take the family out to watch an average/sh1tty movie and that was £50+ gone just for that! The only good thing was the popcorn.

            AV tech has become much better for home use and if you're going to do something like watching movies - that doesn't require social interaction or meeting new people - then why not sit at home and watch movies on your own big screen with surround sound.

            We do enjoy the theatre because now there's something you can't recreate at home (even though my wife loves to create drama). A total rip with tickets costing £100 each but hey it's a special event for us.

            Cinemas are dead.

            Comment


              #7
              They're not closing permanently - just until the climate has improved.

              I actually really enjoyed going to the cinema - not just for the film but for the whole occasion.

              It would invariably by tied in with a visit to Chiquitos and a plate of chicken chimmichangas. Actually, I seem to recall Chiquitos had shut down too so it's a double whammy.

              Comment


                #8
                As said previously studios holding back the Bond film and other blockbusters mean they might not have cinemas to show them in when they do come out.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by ChimpMaster View Post
                  Cinemas are dead.
                  Try Everyman, if you have one locally. Comfy sofa-style seats, and you can have a proper drink, rather than some fizzy, sugary crap. If you order food at the bar, they bring food to your table. Prices are about the same as the local Odeon, but it's far more civilised.
                  His heart is in the right place - shame we can't say the same about his brain...

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Mordac View Post
                    Try Everyman, if you have one locally. Comfy sofa-style seats, and you can have a proper drink, rather than some fizzy, sugary crap. If you order food at the bar, they bring food to your table. Prices are about the same as the local Odeon, but it's far more civilised.
                    Yes, hipster cinemas are on the up around here. At least they were.

                    You'd have thought drive ins may have done well in the current climate but I know of none, pop up or otherwise.

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X