No time to die: Cineworld shaken by new lockdown

CINEWORLD has warned it may not survive a second coronavirus lockdown after making a £1.3bn first-half loss.

The world’s second-biggest cinema operator lurched into the red after its revenues fell to £559m in the first half of year, down from £1.7bn in the same period last year.

The fall was the result of tough lockdown rules which forced most of its theatres to close, causing admissions to drop from 136m to 47.5m.

And although many cinemas have reopened, the damage from previous restrictions is so severe that Cineworld warned another lockdown could put its future in doubt.

Shares plunged by 14.8pc, or 7.16p, to 41.36p as it also revealed it may have to raise emergency cash to shore up its finances if another lockdown forces it to shut down its cinemas again.

Mooky Greidinger, Cineworld’s boss, said: ‘The impact of Covid-19 on our business and the wider leisure industry has been substantial.’

UK box office takings for the top 15 films last weekend were 78pc less than a year ago, according to the British Film Institute, despite Christopher Nolan’s Tenet giving theatres a much-needed boost.

Cinemas are closed across the US, prompting studios to push back major planned releases such as Black Widow and West Side Story to 2021. There is speculation about whether No Time To Die, the latest James Bond film starring Daniel Craig ( pictured), could also be delayed from its planned November release.

That would be another big blow to cinema chains, with Craig himself warning: ‘If we don’t do this, there will be nothing left to save.’

Cineworld said it had reopened 561 out of 778 sites so far but there are concerns restrictions imposed in the UK this week will further deter cinema goers, while the firm’s has modelled a ‘severe but plausible scenario’ where another lockdown would hammer its sales and leave it unable to meet debt commitments.