After Variety reported that all Regal Cinemas in the U.S. could close as soon as the coming week, Regal parent company Cineworld confirmed that it’s a plan being considered but no decisions have been made yet. The move would also potentially include the “temporary closure” of Cineworld’s UK locations, as the original report also suggested. Cineworld is the largest theater chain in the U.K., and Regal is the second-biggest in the U.S.
We can confirm we are considering the temporary closure of our U.K. and US cinemas, but a final decision has not yet been reached. Once a decision has been made we will update all staff and customers as soon as we can.
— Cineworld Cinemas (@cineworld) October 4, 2020
It’s obviously a terrible situation. I’ve been vocal here more than once with my thoughts on how foolish it is for anyone to spend two hours in a movie theater during a pandemic. But the chain shutting down means a lot of jobs will go with it.
If only there were a central governing body in the U.S. that had the ability to legislate safety buffers into existence that could help out unemployed workers with nowhere to turn during a global pandemic.
Cineworld declined an opportunity to comment on the original Variety report, opting to tweet out a response instead on Sunday. The timing of the possible plan is notable, coming just a short time after No Time to Die, the next James Bond movie, was delayed from Nov. 2020 to April 2021.
There was no timeline for the Regal closure in the original report, but given the current state of the world and the pandemic it’s impossible to rule out a 2021 reopening.
Word of the looming closures was met with anger and frustration by Cineworld Action Group, an organized collective of employees who work for the theater chain.
We have found out vital information about our jobs from the media throughout the pandemic. Workers have been left out of discussions that should’ve included our voices. However, in this case it goes beyond belief. To find out you may no longer have a job from the media is awful.
— Cineworld Action Group (@cineactiongroup) October 3, 2020
There’s been no word on what the No Time to Die delay or Cineworld’s possible closures might do to spur similar decisions from competing chains. Regal is the second-biggest in the U.S., behind AMC Theaters and ahead of Cinemark. Mashable reached out to both, but we received no comment at the time of publish.
We’ll update this story as more details surface.