As the COVID-19 pandemic raged on this past summer, theater companies scrambled to prepare for the chance to reopen. They hammered out extensive cleaning protocols and hired back workers with hopes that movies would return to the big screen and that filmgoers would come back to see them.
They viewed promising box office results in other countries that have gotten a better handle on the virus — China and South Korea — as a sign that, if everything went according to plan, the industry would return triumphantly.In the latest sign of the movie industry’s poor condition amid a lack of new films, Regal Cinemas parent company Cineworld dropped a bombshell over the weekend that the British exhibitor would temporarily close operations at all 536 of Regal’s U.S. theaters on Thursday.
The move sent a jolt through the exhibition community, prompting a Monday self-off of theater stocks on Wall Street. AMC fell 10%, or 46 cents, to $4.19 in midday trading. Marcus Corp. shares declined 8%, or 64 cents, to $7.42, while Cinemark’s stock dropped 16%, or $1.65, to $8.44. Leawood, Kan.-based AMC, the world’s largest theater circuit, has not said whether it also had plans to close again, after trying to get back in business since March. Plano, Texas-based Cinemark said it had no plans to shut down its circuit but would begin reducing hours and operating days at its theaters until there are moreThe decision for Regal, the nation and world’s second-largest chain, is just the latest sign of how dire the situation is for multiplexes in the U.S.The National Assn.
“Movie theaters are at a crisis point,” the association’s president, John Fithian, said in a statement. “They have acted responsibly by closing down even before ordered to by states, and reopening with industry-wide safety protocols in place. Now they need the last few major markets — like New York — to open.
considering how few people theaters employ, this is only a big deal for the studios and actors
No movies...no theaters...pretty simple...
AMC is China 🇨🇳 owned. Keep them empty
$12 for a popcorn? Start releasing movies online.
Propaganda fake news liars
People will be going back to drive ins....LOL
Casting call
Fake News....called Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon!