After the delay of the upcoming James Bond picture, No Time to Die, Cineworld have decided to close their doors indefinitely, leaving thousands out of work.
The closure will impact 127 cinemas in the UK, putting over 5,000 employees out of work.
The 15th Bond film, No Time to Die, which cinemas were relying on to drive up ticket sales this November, was delayed once again until 2 April 2021, so it is expected Cineworld will remain closed at least until this date.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, many studios have decided to delay their upcoming blockbusters, or to release them via streaming services.
Other movies that have been delayed include Wonder Woman 2, which will be released in December, after being moved from June, Black Widow, which was originally to be released in May of this year but will be released next May and Jurassic World: Dominion, which won’t be released until June 2022.
Cineworld lost £1.3 billion in revenue over the last three months alone, meaning they will likely have to make many staff redundant and might be forced to make permanent cutbacks.
Many in the film industry, including Patty Jenkins, director of Wonder Woman, as well as Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese are concerned about the long-term survival of cinemas due to the lack of income.
Even cinemas that have remained open will run into trouble as due to social distancing guidelines, they cannot fit as many people into the cinema as they once could, so their only option for the foreseeable future could be to close their doors until more films are released.
The government has unveiled a £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to provide financial support to cinemas throughout the country, however there are fears that this simply will not be enough as cinemas employees are still ‘incredibly worried and scared’ about their jobs.
