Due to the corona pandemic, the large cinema chain Cineworld is temporarily closing its houses in Great Britain and the USA. The cinema industry recently had high hopes for the new James Bond blockbuster "No Time to Die", but the film launch was postponed again.
The corona pandemic is leading to a clear cut in the cinema industry: The temporary closure of all Cineworld cinemas in Great Britain and the USA is costing around 45,000 employees their jobs. As of Thursday, the world's second largest cinema operator after AMC will close the curtains in 536 movie theaters in the USA and 127 in Great Britain. The company said it was about saving costs and keeping the money that was still available. The move had been indicated at the weekend. At the beginning of the Corona crisis, most cinemas worldwide were initially closed.
Since the slow reopening in summer, the houses have been able to receive significantly fewer visitors due to the hygiene and distance requirements, which makes it difficult to operate at all cost-covering. In addition, premieres such as the new James Bond film "No time to die" or Marvel's "Black Widow" have been postponed, which means that there are no box office hits that attract a particularly large number of viewers.
Investors ran away on Monday. The Cineworld share fell in London by up to 60 percent to a record low of 15.64 pence. It had lost around 80 percent of its value since the beginning of the year. Cineworld is represented in a total of ten countries and had recently reported half-year losses of the equivalent of 1.36 billion euros.
Premieres postponed
Cineworld directly employs around 37,500 people in the US, UK and Central Europe. However, cleaning staff and security personnel are also affected by the closings. So far it is unclear when Cineworld will reopen the cinemas. This depends on the development of the corona pandemic, the company announced. Since the number of infections is currently rising again in many countries and resulting in stricter measures to contain the pandemic, there is great fear that the few moviegoers will also stay away.
The latest 007 flick "No Time to Die" should actually be running in spring. Because of the cinema closings, the start was then postponed to November and again on Friday to the beginning of April 2021. Blockbusters like James Bond can bring many millions of dollars into the coffers. "Skyfall" from 2012 brought in over a billion dollars worldwide, 880 million dollars was it for "Specter" in 2015.
One of the few possible box office hits this year is "Wonder Woman 1984", which is due to hit theaters on Christmas Eve. Sequels of "Top Gun" with Tom Cruise or the successful series "Fast & Furious" have also been postponed to spring. Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" and the comic book adaptation "Black Widow" starring Scarlett Johansson are not expected to be released until 2021. Some new films were not shown in cinemas at all, but were available in the living room at home via streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime. Disney's "Mulan" is one of them.
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