Cineworld 'to shut' all cinemas in the UK and Ireland risking thousands of jobs...
 

Cineworld (CINE.L), Britain’s biggest cinema chain could close all its screens in the UK and Ireland, as soon as next week, following the news that the latest James Bond movie would be delayed until April next year.

The operator plans to write to prime minister Boris Johnson and the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, to say that the industry has become “unviable,” according to reports in the Sunday Times.

The move could put up to 5,500 jobs at risk, if the plans go ahead. It will reportedly ask its staff to accept redundancy, with possible incentives to rejoin the company when theatres reopen — likely to be next year.

Like many others in the leisure and hospitality industries, Cineworld was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen many blockbuster movies delayed as filming was postponed.

On Friday, MGM and Britain’s Eon Productions announced that “No Time To Die,” which was first scheduled for release in April 2020, would be pushed back for the second time.

Film industry bosses hoped the James Bond movie, which was due to hit UK cinemas on 12 November would boost cinema-goers and revive the sector.

Other blockbusters such as Marvel’s “Black Widow” and “West Side Story” have also been delayed until 2021.

Cineworld, which has 128 cinemas in the UK, started reopening its theatres in July after lockdown measure were eased. At the time, Cineworld Group Plc said that 561 of its 778 global sites had reopened, with 200 cinemas in the US, six in the UK and 11 in Israel still closed.

Cineworld Action Group, which is run by and represents Cineworld employees, tweeted: "The front page of tomorrow’s Times is announcing that Cineworld is planning to close all of its cinemas across the country as soon as this week putting all of our jobs at immediate risk.”

The group also said that “there has been no consultation with staff whatsoever."

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tip of the iceberg i'm sorry to say

yes cinema's struggle a lot these times


whereas services like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime are doing a lot better


Netflix had again an additional huge amount of customers i had read

they again are renewing their content, saying goodbye to some series like Wynnona Earp (lack of interest by people) and again few new movies/series having arrived this month

I think there's only 1 Cineworld in the Republic of Ireland and that's in Dublin

:sad: the only cinema with comfortable seats and 4DX

Honestly I think the whole blockbuster-type movie will be impacted for many years to come, in that... I just don't think they'll make entertainment in the same way for a while. I think Black Widow is a prime example here - if they were at the planning stage, hadn't already shot a cinematic movie, I would be absolutely CERTAIN that they would make a limited Disney+ series instead. Probably 6-part, same cast, same storyline, similar budget.

In fact at this point I think their best bet would be in developing most of their stuff for streaming, and upping their subscription cost to reflect higher volume and quality of content. I'm not convinced ciname will recover for 5+ years but there are clear alternatives if they're willing to make some radical changes.

Thankfully, gaming is booming :hee:

Yes 4DX
is fantastic.

yes would've potentially been a good hit for Disney+ if they more made a 6 part series out of it

Im so sad, had a members card for ages and me and Tyler love going the cinema and then for a bit of food :(

it's only temporary apparently so...

If they close all the cinemas then I will have to get Amazon or Netflix.
I need my movie fix :fist:

It's the sad reality of the world we live in. Cinemas are one of the worst places you can go, and not many people are going. A lot of studios are resisting streaming for their bigger budget fare (in most cases), but I think a lot of them will eventually have to bite the bullet and release on streaming.

I love going to the cinema but I'd be a lot more tempted to stream new films if the prices weren't so ridiculous, I'm not paying more than I would for a cinema ticket to watch a film at home.

Get Netflix, you should get it anyway, its great value

Yes for all to close
for now
But, the Sunday Times
say big job loses as well

strongly recommend Netflix, you got basically movies, series from every genre there

and some of their originals, maybe ''low budget'' but many netflix original movies are very enjoyable

I do not need it
I have SkyMoviesHD
new Top Movies
every other day

Yes I think they seem to be wanting to price things like a "family ticket" but that's not really how the majority of people watch a streamed film... A lot of people will be watching solo, or as a couple, and really the pricing needs to reflect that. There's some argument for it being partly based on the films budget but I think £9.99 is the realistic upper limit before you lose a lot of people's interest, which seems reasonable enough - assuming 2 people watching a stream on average it's £5 each.

But yeah I think it'll be years before the cinema box office is viable again, they need to make some big decisions about films that are ready for release or already in production. Things aren't going to be dramatically better by April 2021. They're just kicking it into the long grass again.

Another impact of coronavirus. The act of scaremongering will cost thousands of peoples jobs and impact their wellbeing. I feel bad for the government at the moment to be honest because I feel like they are being forced to put harsh restrictions early on because of social media/complaining and it’ll result in thousands of job losses. The cinema should be a reasonable safe place to o with a mask and social distancing, but scaremongering from social media and the media itself has made people not go.. likewise other businesses will suffer

My local one is a Cineworld so I'm pretty disappointed but it's not too surprising, they've got nothing to show..

yeah, i would happily support the film industry streaming content provided prices are not stupid

The only cinema near me ��

Is it better Amazon or Netflix?

Yeah, but I don't think they will reduce prices, I've read that a few films that went to streaming on a premium have basically done really well so I think they'll stay expensive.

Honestly though, If Sony put the new James Bond film on streaming for £10-15 (if they're being greedy), they'd most likely make a killing since people would go for that. Same with Black Widow or Wonder Woman or Fast & Furious etc. they'd lose a bit of money on each sold 'ticket' but they'd likely sell a lot more 'tickets' and that would make up for it. You catch more flies with honey, after all.

There's also the fact that it's a digital product and thus has a "flat" production cost unlike a physical product, so selling more at a lower price vs fewer at a higher price makes no difference at the production end... once it's made, the resource is infinite. I think more of the big players need to develop in-house streaming apps though, that's the real kicker vs cinema. No middle man. The takings for the film can be pure profit as there's no cut taken by a physical cinema (or independent streaming service like Prime). To be fair though I don't know if it's more cost effective for someone like Sony to run their own servers, or to outsource, so maybe Prime is a good compromise. Or maybe a new "box office" player will enter the game offering only premium new titles. It's an interesting time anyway, I think the shape of cinema is going to change dramatically. It was anyway to be honest - I strongly suspect Disney is "experimenting" with the upcoming MCU stuff to see if streamed mini-series are a better platform than cinema for the brand, but current cinema unavailability is definitely going to be a catalyst.

I'm very much of the opinion that they should cut their losses and drop Black Widow on streaming ASAP to keep MCU interest alive. The film is going to be out of place and irrelevant by April 2021 - Widow will have been dead for two years and the BW film just feels like a Phase 3 project through and through. They should have had it out before the MCU Disney+ content starts. Delaying again feels like more of a Disney decision than a Marvel decision.