Regal Cinema locations to be shuttered again
Parent company will close hundreds of theaters
The movie theater chain will be closing its doors for the second time since the pandemic began.
Regal cinema locations across the region — and the U.S. — will be closing for the second time since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Cineworld Group Plc, which owns the Regal, Cineworld and Picturehouse movie theaters confirmed Monday it will temporarily close its venues in the U.S. and U.K. — starting on Thursday.
The company operates 536 Regal cinemas in the U.S., including five locations in Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties.
The move will impact an estimated 45,000 employees.
The company said it is taking the step because delays to the latest James Bond film left it with few blockbusters to attract customers during the continuing pandemic.
Without the releases, the company said it can’t give customers “the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theaters against the backdrop of COVID-19.’’
“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 theaters and working constructively with regulators and industry bodies to restore public confidence in our industry, Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld said in a statement.
Regal operates Regal Downingtown, East Caln, Chester County; Regal Oaks, Upper Providence, Montgomery County; Regal UA of King of Prussia, Upper Merion, Montgomery County; Regal Edgemont Square, Newtown Square, Delaware County; and Regal Plymouth Meeting, Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery County.
A check Monday afternoon of
the area Regal cinemas showed showtimes through Thursday at all but one of the theaters. In addition, Regal Oaks and Regal King of Prussia also still show special engagements Saturday of “Total Recall,” 30th anniversary edition and Sunday of “Psycho,” 60th anniversary edition.
Monday afternoon, Regal posted a tweet about the closures.
“In response to an increasingly challenging theatrical landscape and sustained key market closures, Regal will suspend operations at all theatres at the close of business on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020 until further notice,” the tweet stated.
David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets, said Cineworld had been highly leveraged, having largely funded its acquisition of Regal Entertainment in 2018 through debt.
“Today the company confirmed they will be assessing their liquidity options, and it plans to update the market on the resumption of business in due course,’’ he said. “It seems that Cineworld is hunkering down and they are holding onto their current liquidity position, with the view to probably having a reduced service when they re-open.’’