Cineworld to close again

[CormoranStrike]

According to the Times Cineworld is shutting all its UK and US cinemas until 2021, with all staff to be made redundant.

With all big cinema releases being delayed, and tiny numbers attending, I am not surprised, sadly. My own cineworld has been like a ghost town when I’ve visited this past month.

And I really do wonder if mothballing isn’t just delaying the inevitable.

I feel heart sorry for the arts industry.

I haven't been to Cineworld for years. It's the only big cinema in our main (county) town but is very expensive in my opinion. I thought the prices were the norm until DS went to Uni in a city and told me what he paid at cinemas there (half the price). Add to that the behaviour of other customers (constant noise, getting up to go to the loo, kicking my seat, mobile phones being used for texting so the light distracts and many more selfish behaviours) then I'm afraid I wouldn't be going with or without covid. Add that to the fact that most people can stream movies by various means now then i think big cinemas have had there day anyway.

I feel very sorry for people who have lost their jobs. To be honest though I'm surprised these big chain cinemas are still going and if it wasn't covid I can imagine them fading into obscurity anyway.

I feel more concerned for theatres and the real arts. I do hope they're able to find a way of operating.

I love the cinema and would be very sad if this pandemic meant some of them closing long term, but those who are going at the moment and say they feel safe, are you not worried about the air conditioning /heating system recirculating the virus? I understand that they are doing social distancing well but I'm too worried about the heating system to consider the space safe.

My local small independent is really worried as they can't keep showing the same stuff. With films being delayed, they are in real trouble. It's been there since 1935.

I'm a regular Cineworld visitor but, as others have said, they can't continue without the blockbuster releases. Delaying the Bond film is a tough and unnecessary blow I think. Tenet didn't do well as it simply wasn't as good as Interstellar.

Having said all that I think that Cineworld are threatening closure to put pressure on the Govt in order to attract financial support. If they are given aid, then they won't close entirely.

@CormoranStrike the free nachos and popcorn are available when they scan your card. We went on Thursday and were offered it - then got an email on Friday saying we were being given them and that three unlimited screenings were coming up.

Before that, when they first reopened we had a free ticket to take a friend.

Plenty of incentives but it still remained very quiet at our cinema.

@bigbluebus even different Cineworld charge different prices for the tickets. My closest is around £2 per ticket more than one a little further away.

@user1471565182

I think its been coming for a long time to be honest. Streaming would have killed it off anyway.

This. Once tickets got to £10 per adult then what’s the point?

Sadly if there isn’t the demand, the business will continue to haemorrhage cash and that can’t continue indefinitely, they already had a lot of debt and then emergency funding.

I haven’t been to the cinema since pre lockdown. I don’t fancy sitting in an enclosed space with strangers, or having to wear a mask throughout a film, when I could watch a film at home.

I suspect the majority of their sights will just be ‘mothballed’ as it’s costly and cumbersome to convert them to anything else. Then in 6/12/18 months or whenever we get back to some kind of normality they will have to spend a bit getting them up straight again and hopefully relaunch.

I do feel very sorry for the staff though, v poor from the company (but I’m not surprised) if this is how they found out.

I have been going to the cinema since they re-opened (not Cineworld) and I am a little surprised at this. Even though my taste in films is more suited to arthouse and independent cinemas, still sad to see part of our culture closing for an extended period. Many people will not have an alternative local cinema at all, and streaming is a second-best option in my opinion.

I wanted to go but also nothing on. The thing is I don't want to do everything in my home.

I love going to the cinema but haven’t been since they opened as there is literally nothing on I want to see. My local independent cinema hasn’t reopened at all. It’s very sad. Also worried for the theatres and the arts in general.

This is just awful, how are cinemas in other countries operating does anyone know?

DP and I are odeon limitless members but we've only been once since it reopened to see Tenet (which was disappointing). The screen was empty, maybe another 6 people in there.
Before lockdown we used to go at least once a week. Our local cinemas all open later now (around 12.30/1pm), meaning we can't squeeze in a film before we have to go and collect the DC from school, even if there was something we wanted to see, which there hasn't been because all of the new releases have been pushed back. We were particularly disappointed with Mulan, which we can pay to watch on Disney+, but if it had been released in cinemas then we'd have gotten to see it for free!
I can totally understand why the cinemas are struggling. I'm surprised it hadn't happened sooner to be honest.

I took the kids to a Saturday morning viewing and it had a reasonable amount of people there, so I was quite hopeful until I read the headline.

I had been hoping they would re-show some of the 's live' shows they must still have recorded, I was particularly hoping for Warhorse and Everybody's Talking About Jamie.

I hope it won't be the end, I remember when video shops started appearing and town centre cinemas closing in the 80s/90s we thought that might be the end but they reinvented themselves with the multiplexes. Watching at home just isn't the same (we have a small house and a 37" tv) so I'm sure we would go back but not without new releases. I'm not worried about the aircon thing, it's no worse than being at work and probably less risky as no one is talking.

I'm gutted about this. I used to go all the time and have maybe been maybe five times since they reopened. I must have seen everything new - there is nothing on this weekend that either I haven't seen, or is old or is a kids film. The David Attenborough thing was on but even as a Cineworld member it cost six quid, fourteen pounds for non members, but is available on Netflix for nothing!

If people don't start going out and doing things (safely) now then they won't have anything to do at all once all this is over

I think they’ll be back once the studios start releasing stuff again. Home movie watching has been around in various forms for decades and the box office numbers in the last five years have been reasonably robust.

It’s not sustainable for them to keep open and paying staff when so few people are attending because there are no big new releases, and there’s a perceived danger of either catching a nasty disease or receiving a phone call out of the blue saying you need to stay in the house for 14 days. The replacement for the furlough scheme isn’t nearly generous enough to motivate them to keep staff on.

In a year’s time however the buildings will still be there and there will be two years’ worth of Marvel movies for teenagers to catch up on, and a load of couples or students who are dying to go out and catch something Oscar-hyped on a date night. It’s just a hiatus but it seems very harsh on the employees.

This is really sad!

Pre covid me and DH only went maybe 4 times a year to cineworld so i can't say we were keeping it alive. However we would wait for something we really wanted to see and then go and really enjoy it.

We've not been since lockdown. At first DH refused to go because the rumor was that you weren't allowed snacks (part of the whole experience is the nacho's and jalopenos (sp?) for him. Then when i looked into it and saw snacks were still available we have been keeping an eye out but nothing came on we wanted to see. It costs us about 28 quid for 2 adults plus food - but if they'd put Bond on we'd have gone no probs.

Ironically DH actually said he'd be more likely to go with the social distancing in place because it would reduce the likelyhood of ending up with some noisy fidgety arsehole sitting right next to you or right behind you.

I’ve been to see summerland, unhinged and heartbreak gallery. Bought popcorn and drink too.

This is our local independent cinema. Really really need films to come out so they can be supported.

These are the UK figures for the last ten years. Not an industry in serious decline preCovid, regardless of Netflix. I think the posters who are saying it was on the road to oblivion anyway are just thinking about their own personal lifestyle.

Is this going to affect Picturehouse as well, given they are (I think) owned by Cineworld.

I'm really sad about this, but as a reasonably regular cinema goer, I haven't been once since they reopened. Not because of safety fears, but there hasn't been anything I wanted to see.

And, same as @paintedpanda - the earliest showing at my local cinema is now 12:30/ 13:00 which is too late for me to pick up the DC.

I don’t think they were all on the road to oblivion at all. Our local Empire was always busy.

So many businesses and chains going bust because of this bloody virus. I do think we’ll
look back at the utter carnage these measures have made to peoples’ livelihoods and wonder if we did the right thing. These effects will be permanent. These businesses will not open again.

We were due to have an Everyman opening in our town soon. I do hope it still goes ahead. I would have gone lots. Such a treat to be able to walk to a nice boutique cinema.

DP and I were Cineworld unlimited members. He went once when they reopened but I haven’t been at all, as there’s been nothing I wanted to see, just reruns of old movies and Tenet.

As others have said, if they’d put some of the live shows on, or even some proper big films, especially in 3D, that people may have missed first time around (eg Life of Pi - it was the first 3D movie I ever saw and it was spectacular!) I’d have been more likely to go, as it would be a totally different experience to watching a film at home. As it was, a bunch of 10 year old films that I’ve seen several times already wasn’t worth the £17 a month I’m paying, so I had to cancel my membership.

Yes, I could have kept paying to to keep them afloat, but I already have £400 in IOUs from theatres for tickets that were cancelled, rather than claiming refunds, I’m paying gym membership fees for a gym that has half its facilities closed - and I’ve lost work due to Covid myself, so I can’t keep paying for things I’m not getting!

It’s sad but at some point there will be new opportunities for these companies and staff. In the meantime we’ll all struggle on finding new ways to earn money and entertain ourselves.

I don't think cinemas were dying out at all. Lots of young people go. I know my nieces and nephews went a lot before the virus fucked everything up.

I want to watch new films on a big screen not on my tv.