🎬 Bond was the last straw: Regal and Cineworld will reportedly close all

[ThinkingSapien]

Bond was the last straw: Regal and Cineworld will reportedly close all theaters in US and UK next week - The Verge

Cineworld, owner of the largest chain of theaters in the UK and Ireland and the second-largest in the United States — Regal Cinemas — will reportedly close all its theaters next week, according to Variety , The Sunday Times , and others.

Variety reports that all 543 theaters in the US will be closed, which account for the chain’s 7,000+ screens in the region. The Sunday Times reports that it will close all 128 theaters in the UK and Ireland, too.

Both say James Bond is the reason.

Yesterday, the 25th James Bond film — No Time to Die — was pushed back to April 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic, denying theaters one of the last major tentpole releases due out this year. Apparently, theaters were counting on Bond, specifically, to arrive on time and help bail them out of poor ticket sales.

In a statement, Cineworld did not confirm that it would close its theaters, though did say it is “considering the temporary closure of our U.K. and US cinemas.” However, “a final decision has not yet been reached,” Cineworld said.

 

[tomarin]

That’s a shame.

 

[Pattylt]

I’m not sure I would call it a shame. Large theater chains have had too much influence on what movies will show and what shows get nominated for Oscars.

With the changing climate of how people like to view movies, changes were inevitable and Covid just rapidly brought it to the foreground. I don’t think theaters will ever completely go away…they will just be fewer and have more freedom (if they become independent theaters) on show selection.

Hollywood needs to broken a bit so it can repair itself and become a bit more humble. The loss of being able to dictate what everyone sees and enjoys has been going on too long already. While I feel for theater owners and their loss of business, I think a rebranding is desperately needed and it was going to happen anyway!

 

[tomarin]

I only think it’s a shame insofar that it indicates that Americans don’t go to the movies much anymore - they or we I should say prefer to watch at home or on smartphones.

 

[ThinkingSapien]

or we I should say prefer to watch at home or on smartphones.

I prefer to watch movies where I dont have to hear other people answering their phones or deal with their bright screens in the dark theater. It’s a distraction that i had given up on being resolved. For me, the best theater is my couch.

 

[Pattylt]

Yes, we’ve been moving towards that for years! Remember when shows on TV were only played in specific time and day slots? If you missed an episode, you had to wait half a year to catch it when it was rerun once only. Then came VCRs. Then came movies to disks…you could own the movie and watch it whenever you wanted! But, you often had to wait two years before the movie came to disk!

Then we became really technological…we could record anything shown on TV and stream everything…whenever we wanted…and we liked it!

Disruptions happen in industries. The executives hate it but their power to control the situations have been lost, never to return. The music industry was blown up when iTunes sold individual songs for 0.99¢. You no longer had to but an entire album for the one song you liked.

Executives may hate it but they no longer determine the rule book and they will change to please their audience when forced to. And not until. And kicking and screaming and whining the whole time…too bad, so sad. No one likes not being able to determine what we watch and when we watch it!

Theaters will adjust, too. People still like to go out to a movie now and then…when they choose to, not as the only way to view a show. Theaters will probably still find ways to draw us into them…better seating, not killing us on popcorn prices, newest technology that most can’t afford in their own home theaters… It will just no longer be the way they make the largest portion of their money but they’ll find a way through this, too!

 

[Pattylt]

I like going on occasion, too. There’s nothing like a big screen and good sound and for some odd reason, I love movie theater popcorn…I can’t replicate it! Especially sci-fi movies with all the special effects!

Until Covid is under better control, however, I’m not going now!