There's more bad news for theaters thanks to COVID-19, as Cineworld, one of the UK's biggest theater chains and owner of U.S. chain Regal Cinemas, has announced plans to close its venues in both countries. This comes almost immediately after the news that No Time to Die has been pushed back from this November to next April.
According to Variety, the company's theaters in The UK, Ireland and The U.S. will close as soon as this week, though staff in the UK - over 5500 of them - only learned of the news via stories like this one.
Cineworld is reportedly writing to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to explain that the exhibition sector is now "unviable" due to a lack of new releases and the fact that customers are avoiding cinemas due to safety concerns caused by on the ongoing pandemic.
A reopening date hasn't been set yet, but it's likely these theaters will remain closed until next year, and that's not good news for upcoming December releases like Dune and Wonder Woman 1984. Many believe they will also be delayed, especially with cases on the rise across the U.S. and Europe.
Whether Cineworld will be able to survive these closures remains to be seen, and it's likely other chains will soon follow; after all, there's only so many times people will be willing to pay to see Tenet and The New Mutants! It will also be interesting to see how these closures affect the way studios release tentpoles in future, as it's clear something might have to change.
For now, though, our thoughts go out to those who find themselves jobless ahead of Christmas.