Many of you will have heard in the news lately that Cineworld Cinemas will be closing its doors again!
The closures were first reported in The Sunday Times, it is believed that the Cineworld bosses will write to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to tell them that cinema has become “unviable” as studios keep putting back blockbuster releases.
This sad new does not only mean the closure of Cineworld’s 128 sites across the country but it will also put up to 5,500 jobs at risk.
But in some good news, the Times also reports that it is hoped that the Cineworld cinemas will be able to reopen next year, with staff being asked to accept redundancy in the hope of rejoining the company when theatres open again.
Back in July, the Government promised a package of more than £1.5 billion to help the arts and culture industries that were forced to shut down earlier this year as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Back in August, we brought you the news that Cineworld was reopening its cinemas in Wales and that Covid-19 safety guidelines would be in effect during visits to the cinemas. I’ve been several times since the reopening and have to say that Cineworld has done an amazing job with the safety measures and I’ve always felt safe when seeing the movies.
But with the postponement of many of the upcoming Hollywood movies including Fast 9, Disney’s Mulan which opted to be shown on Disney+ over a cinema release and now the news that the new James Bond movie No Time To Die has been postponed again until April 2021, the cinemas are finding it hard financially to stay afloat with the lack of blockbuster movies to bring people in to watch the movies the way they should be seen.
So what happens now!
With the closure of the Cineworld cinemas times are going to be dark and dismal for the entertainment industry and I’m wondering myself if this is going to be the death of movies as we know it.
Cineworld boss has said that the plan to close the chain in the UK and US, “is not a decision we made lightly“.
With the closure confirmed, Cineworld will be suspending its operations from Thursday, which will put 45,000 jobs at risk.
Mooky Greidinger said, “We did everything in our power to support safe and sustainable reopenings in all our markets“.
The company has not given a date for reopening its 663 cinemas, which include 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse theatres in the UK.
Mr Greidinger said the company “cannot underscore enough how difficult this decision was” to close the sites.
“Cineworld will continue to monitor the situation closely and will communicate any future plans to resume operations in these markets at the appropriate time, when key markets have more concrete guidance on their reopening status and, in turn, studios are able to bring their pipeline of major releases back to the big screen,” he said.
Going to the cinema for the latest release has been something I’ve loved since I was a child and there is no better way to see a movie that on the big screen, be it in 2D, RealD 3D, IMAX or even the fantastic 4DX, so now only time will tell how this affects the industry.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
