Regal Theatres Closing All Cinemas, Including 9 In IL
ILLINOIS — Coronavirus hasn't just sickened millions worldwide and claimed the lives of more than 200,000 Americans — it's also prompted business closings across the globe. Now, a theater chain with nine Illinois locations has announced will shutter all of its theaters in the U.S. and U.K., at least temporarily.
On Sunday, Cineworld, which operates 543 Regal Theatres in the U.S., confirmed it was mulling the closures. On Monday, the company announced it will close more than 500 Regal cinemas in the U.S. and over 100 Cineworld and Picturehouse locations in the U.K.
"In response to an increasingly challenging theatrical landscape and sustained key market closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cineworld confirms that it will be temporarily suspending operations at all of its 536 Regal theatres in the US and its 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse theatres in the UK," the company said, adding the closures will take effect Thursday, Oct. 8. No reopening date has been announced.
The closings will affect 45,000 employees.
"As major US. markets, mainly New York, remained closed and without guidance on reopening timing, studios have been reluctant to release their pipeline of new films," Cineworld said, adding it "cannot provide customers in both the US and the UK — the company's primary markets — with the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theatres against the backdrop of COVID-19."
CEO Mooky Greidinger said closing 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 theatres and working constructively with regulators and industry bodies to restore public confidence in our industry."
The news comes in response to MGM delaying the release of the newest James Bond film, "No Time To Die," from November until April 2021.
In Illinois, Regal operates nine theaters:
Regal is the second-largest theater chain in the U.S., behind AMC, and the largest in the U.K., according to comicbook.com.
Regal broke ground on what would be its 10th Illinois theater, a new location in Joliet, in 2019. Its Illinois theaters are currently open but in many cases showing older movies it touts as "classics," including "Hocus Pocus" (1993) "Magic Mike" (2012) and a 40th anniversary screening of "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980). Some new releases, including "Tenet" and "The New Mutants," are also being screened after moving forward with their release dates despite the pandemic.
Theaters are among the many businesses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with some cinema chains pushing back reopening dates over the summer as the virus continued to take its toll.
Coronavirus has pushed back the release of dozens of movies, including expected blockbusters like "Black Widow," which was originally set for release on May 1 (now tentatively expected in theaters May 7, 2021), "Wonder Woman 1984" (moved from a June 1 release to Christmas Day) and "The Batman" (moved from June 2021 to October 2021).
This article originally appeared on the Across Illinois Patch
