45,000 jobs hit as film delays hit Cineworld

A veteran fund-raiser has reached the summit of Ben Nevis wearing a 130lb deep-sea diving suit, completing the first stage of his final charity challenge. Lloyd Scott, 58, best known for his world record of taking the longest recorded time to complete a marathon, aims to climb Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowdon wearing the 58.9kg diving suit. It will be his last charity challenge, having raised more than £5m in 30 years.

CINEWORLD said up to 45,000 employees will be affected worldwide as it confirmed plans to temporarily close its cinemas in the UK and the US.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to return to cinemas and “support” their local theatres, after the closures were confirmed yesterday.

More than 600 sites will be closed across the UK and US from Thursday – including one at Plymouth’s new Barcode venue – after the industry was rocked by plans by James Bond studios MGM and Universal to delay the release of the franchise’s latest film.

The turmoil across the sector became clear as cinema chain rivals Odeon and Vue also stressed that a dearth of blockbuster movie releases had resulted in empty seats.

Odeon told customers it has shut around a quarter of cinemas from Monday to Thursday, while Vue said it is “looking at all options” to avoid lay-offs.

Cineworld said it would close 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse sites in the UK, confirming reports over the weekend and sending shares down by as much as 57% as markets opened in London. It did not specify how many jobs are at risk in the UK; however, the PA news agency understood that 5,500 would be hit.

Overall, around 45,000 employees are affected in both countries, as 536 Regal cinemas in the US will shut down because of the decision.

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.”

On Friday, the release of Bond film No Time To Die was delayed for the second time because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The film was meant to hit cinemas in November, but fans will now have to wait until April 2 next year before seeing Daniel Craig’s final outing in the role. The movie joins other potential hits which have been delayed by the pandemic.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Greidinger said: “Many significant movies have moved, like Mulan, like Black Widow, like Kingsman – Wonder Woman moved from October to

December – and on Friday we got the news that the Bond movie – that, needless to say, for the UK is the biggest movie of the year – also decided to move.”

He added: “From a liquidity point of view, we were bleeding much bigger amounts when we are open than when we are closed... we would be like a grocery shop with no food – we had to take this decision.”

Mr Johnson said there will be tough times ahead after the news.

“Obviously we hope to reduce, to keep the numbers of people who lose their jobs down as much as we can, but clearly there are going to be tough times ahead,” he told reporters in central London.

“Supporting local cinemas – I think we’ve already put £30 million in – but what I would say to people is that local cinemas do now have ways of making their shows go on in a Covidsecure way and I’d encourage people to go out to the cinema, enjoy themselves and support those businesses.”

Elsewhere, Odeon confirmed that about 30 of its 120 cinema sites will shut from Monday to Thursday, after audience figures have been slow to recover during the pandemic.