Regal Cinemas to Suspend Operations in US, UK After James Bond Delayed Until April - Movie theaters are dead. Long Live the Home Theater

[tehpope]

Regal Cinemas, the second-largest cinema chain in the United States, is suspending all of its locations nationwide in addition to 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse theaters in the United Kingdom.

The decision comes following the announcement that the release of the latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, has been pushed back again to April 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Theaters have been counting No Time to Die the film to push sinking sales, which Cineworld is in desperate need of, as they reported a loss of $1.6 billion in the first half of 2020.

“This is not a decision we made lightly, and we did everything in our power to support a safe and sustainable reopening in the U.S.– from putting in place robust health and safety measures at our theatres to joining our industry in making a collective commitment to the CinemaSafe protocols to reaching out to state and local officials to educate them on these initiatives,” said Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld. “We are especially grateful for and proud of the hard work our employees put in to adapt our theaters to the new protocols and cannot underscore enough how difficult this decision was.”

The suspension will take place starting October 8 and will last indefinitely, depending on release schedules set by the studios.

“Despite our work, positive feedback from our customers and the fact that there has been no evidence to date linking any COVID cases with cinemas, we have not been given a route to reopen in New York, although other indoor activities – like indoor dining, bowling and casinos were already allowed,” Greidinger added. “The prolonged closures have had a detrimental impact on the release slate for the rest of the year, and, in turn, our ability to supply our customers with the lineup of blockbusters they’ve come to expect from us. As such, it is simply impossible to continue operations in our primary markets.”

Regal Cinemas to Suspend Operations in US, UK After 'James Bond' Delayed Until April

Regal Cinemas to Suspend Operations in US, UK After 'James Bond' Delayed Until April

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AMC next? I know the one near me opened up recently. We have a few mom and pop ones. I think those are going to close down permanently sooner than later.

 

[The Pink Panther]

Damn, that actually fucking sucks.

I remember going to Regal a lot as a kid and shit. It was pretty much a walk from my house, 30 minutes away. They actually upgraded their theaters recently similar to how AMC did it. It's a shame that they're closing down, I actually think there could've been an easy solution to how social distancing could work within a movie theater too. They should've made better business decisions in regards to that or rather the state as well.

 

[Vault Boy]

Someone should keep a close eye on Bob Chipman, I think this bit of news would make him snap and do something bad...

In all seriousness, this is pretty shitty news for the economy. Hotels, convention centers, resorts, and amusement parks were already knocking on death's door, now there's the possibility that movie theatres are next on the chopping block. So many businesses and industries going down the shitter is gonna push us closer to the possibility of a new depression, all because of the "experts" having more input than economists on the severity of lockdowns.

On the plus side, maybe this will help resurrect drive-in theatres, those were fun times.

 

[Thumb Butler]

No Time to Die, love the name. How 2020.

 

[sasazuka]

I went to a movie at a Cineplex at the end of August. It only had alternating pairs of seats every other row available (meaning every second row had two seats closed between each pair of open seats and the rows in between were completely closed) and, even with only around 25% of the seats available, there were only maybe four or five other people in the theatre.

That is not a sustainable business model for Cineplex and, as someone who still likes seeing movies on the big screen, I fear for its future.

 

[Michael Wade]

This is such a goddam shame. I used to go to these all the time with my girl. I hope something survives this trashfire.

 

[SSF2T Old User]

On the plus side, maybe this will help resurrect drive-in theatres, those were fun times.

Yea, "fun times" is right

 

[Not Really Here]

Inevitable.
There's very little reason to go to a theater, and I can eat whatever I want while drinking whatever I want at home.

 

[Smug Chuckler]

AMC is owned by China, mission accomplished for them.

 

[Reverend]

Well crap there goes Cinebistro from ever reopening...

 

[A Pox]

Imagine banking your entire business on woke 007

 

[Sam Losco]

They're counting on a Bond movie that will most likely suck to keep them alive? That's already a bad plan.

 

[Distant Stare]

Too bad, they were one of the theaters that was going to re-release Alita Battle Angel.

 

[Green Room]

Pre-9/11 they were doing Funscape & Regal supercenters that were absolutely gigantic indoor centers with an entire arcade, go kart track, bowling, dining, etc, attached to a full cinema complex. They got destroyed on those and the Regal Supercinemas that are still around are nothing compared to what they were supposed to be. Now even a movie theatre alone is unsustainable. What a joyless world this truly has become.

 

[DNA_JACKED]

Someone should keep a close eye on Bob Chipman, I think this bit of news would make him snap and do something bad...

In all seriousness, this is pretty shitty news for the economy. Hotels, convention centers, resorts, and amusement parks were already knocking on death's door, now there's the possibility that movie theatres are next on the chopping block. So many businesses and industries going down the shitter is gonna push us closer to the possibility of a new depression, all because of the "experts" having more input than economists on the severity of lockdowns.

On the plus side, maybe this will help resurrect drive-in theatres, those were fun times.

Don't forget bowling alleys, specialty bars like arcade bars, restaurants, and mom and pop game stores. Only big businesses are going to survive this in any great number if this keeps up much longer. Place your faith in Omnicorp, citizen!

Pre-9/11 they were doing Funscape & Regal supercenters that were absolutely gigantic indoor centers with an entire arcade, go kart track, bowling, dining, etc, attached to a full cinema complex. They got destroyed on those and the Regal Supercinemas that are still around are nothing compared to what they were supposed to be. Now even a movie theatre alone is unsustainable. What a joyless world this truly has become.

My small hope is this will spur a return of smaller cottage industries. The Hollywood monster was getting so large it would inevitably collapse at some point. Lower budget affairs are going to look a lot safer for the next 5+ years as the economy tries to recover, and as such smaller creators will stand a better chance of competing.

A man can hope. I dont really want to live in a place where the only things to do are shop at walmart, eat at mcdonalds, and buy livestreams from amazon.

 

[ScamL Likely]

I think movie theaters are as much of a ripoff as the next guy does, but the idea that they should be entirely replaced with home media is nonsensical because it really is a completely different experience that I want as an option on occasion even though I typically don't go to them that often.

 

[The Nothingness]

Now I won't be able to use the Regal gift card I was holding onto until movie theaters could reopen in my state

 

[Phony Negro]

What makes them think people will go to theatres in droves by April or May? Even if the virus becomes a non-issue (in the eyes of the government), it will probably be years as people are hesitant to go to theatres.

F9, Black Widow and James Bond might need to bite the bullet and put it on streaming if this doesn't work out. They can't keep this up forever.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

What makes them think people will go to theatres in droves by April or May? Even if the virus becomes a non-issue (in the eyes of the government), it will probably be years as people are hesitant to go to theatres.

F9, Black Widow and James Bond might need to bite the bullet and put it on streaming if this doesn't work out. They can't keep this up forever.

At this point, I don't get why the film studios don't do this. Even if Netflix isn't a viable option, they still have their own services to go to. Or are they really hoping the virus will die out come early next year and expect everything to go back to semi-normal?

Because way I see it, these changes are here to stay, and even if the theaters can survive, they'll certainly never be the same as they were prior to the epidemic. The fact that the last time they tried to reopen failed horribly should have been proof enough that people aren't ready for that shit. Then again, people weren't ready for Disney to charge an extra 30 bucks for one of the worst remakes in recent history, so maybe they might as well just shelve the movies until whenever (or in the case of Bond, forever).

 

[DNA_JACKED]

At this point, I don't get why the film studios don't do this. Even if Netflix isn't a viable option, they still have their own services to go to. Or are they really hoping the virus will die out come early next year and expect everything to go back to semi-normal?

Because way I see it, these changes are here to stay, and even if the theaters can survive, they'll certainly never be the same as they were prior to the epidemic. The fact that the last time they tried to reopen failed horribly should have been proof enough that people aren't ready for that shit. Then again, people weren't ready for Disney to charge an extra 30 bucks for one of the worst remakes in recent history, so maybe they might as well just shelve the movies until whenever (or in the case of Bond, forever).

I disagree with the changes being "here to stay". The Spanish flu tore through America, killing 700K people in 1918, at a time where America had 1/3rd the population it does today, far worse nutritional science and medication, dirtier water, ece. In the following decade we saw crowded speakeasies and cities grow larger then ever. Ironically movie theaters boomed during this time period, with huge crowds filling seating arrangements.

This powerful cold wont stop consumerism from returning. Growth may be negative for a few years, but movie theaters will eventually return, as will airlines and amusement parks. Humans are naturally social creatures, and the extra effort needed to maintain "social distancing" and the whole "stream at home" business wont satiate that need once the fear dies down. After all, the swine flu epidemic in 2006 and 2009 was all over the news, and over the next 10 years box office records were broken multiple times.

Entropy is the natural state of matter, and all life gravitates towards it.