Cineworld has confirmed plans to temporarily close its cinemas in both the UK and the US, raising fears for the jobs of 45,000 people.
The decision, which had been widely expected, will mean 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse venues shut in the UK. In the US, 536 Regal theatres will also close.
It comes after big studios started to delay their major film releases to wait for bigger audiences amid the coronavirus crisis. Earlier this week, James Bond No Time To Die was delayed again just weeks before its rescheduled release date in November.
It is unclear what impact the move will have on thousands of employees in both countries – Cineworld’s two main markets. 5,500 of the roles are in the UK.
The company’s chief executive, Mooky Greidinger, said: ‘This is not a decision we made lightly, and we did everything in our power to support safe and sustainable reopenings in all of our markets – including meeting, and often exceeding, local health and safety guidelines in our theatres and working constructively with regulators and industry bodies to restore public confidence in our industry.
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‘We are especially grateful for and proud of the hard work our employees put in to adapt our theatres to the new protocols and cannot underscore enough how difficult this decision was.’
Mr Greidinger continued: ‘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.’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/05/fears-for-45000-jobs-as-cineworld-confirms-it-will-temporarily-shut-cinemas-13371489/