Goodbye to Cineworld?

Post by **Ojisama** » 22 Aug 2022, 23:06

News has come over the weekend that Cineworld, the worlds 2nd largest Cinema organisation, is filing for bankruptcy.

Cineworld, who also own Picturehouse Cinemas in the UK, and Regal Cinemas in the US, say that they "would expect to maintain its operations in the ordinary course until and following any filing and ultimately to continue its business over the longer term with no significant impact upon its employees.”

Cineworld has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels of business, and says that the lack of blockbuster films has resulted in poor audience levels, and they don't see the situation improving this year.

Vue cinemas cited similar reasons when they went to their shareholders and asked for extra money to see them through to the end of the trading year. A lot of film companies have chosen to go straight to streaming, or have a limited releases before going to streaming and DVD.

Post by **LilMissLarBear** » 25 Aug 2022, 22:34

It does make you question really... do you reckon we would see cinemas in say... 20-30 years time? maybe not even! I dont know :/ I kind of hope not because going to the cinema for me was like a afternoon out. Even though I have a Vue right near where I live and they do pretty good deals I dont go a lot so it is a big deal! Similar to how I feel with theatre experiences but I guess thats a whole different ball game. I dont know Cineworld's situation enough to directly comment on it but it does make me worry that if Cineworld closes down how long would it be until the likes of Vue and Odeon for example would do the same? And its like you said, its because a lot of the films are streamed now. I would even argue that its just down to streaming now, I cant think of many people that still use DVDs.

Post by **Ojisama** » 25 Aug 2022, 23:05

I suspect it isn't a "full" bankruptcy, but something that allows them to write off their debts. I forget what the term is. My last employer did it, and we thought we were all going to lose our jobs, but we just kept trading. It allowed them to renegotiate the leases on the shops to get better deals from the landlords, amongst other things. The difference being that Cineworld is a public company with thousands of shareholders, whereas my employer was a private company. It is likely that those shareholders will lose all their money.

Post by **Ojisama** » 09 Sep 2022, 17:28

After filing for "Chapter 11" bankruptcy in the USA, Cineworld has been thrown a lifeline.

A court in Texas has allowed the company to access $750 million by giving approval for "1st Day Relief". More money may be forthcoming, as the fund allows lending of up to $1.94 Billion.

Cineworld said that ‘together with the group's available cash reserves and cash provided by operations, is expected to provide sufficient liquidity for Cineworld to meet its ongoing obligations’.

The company is seeking to reduce its mountainous debt of $7.5 Billion.

Rich-Allen1976 · Post by **Rich-Allen1976** » 11 Sep 2022, 21:12

They lost a ton of money when they were forced to shut for a quite a long time during the first lockdown.

I actually cancelled the direct debit for my Unlimited card last week, and will start going to the Odeon in Town, in fact I already have done, went to the 40th anniversary of ET a week last Friday ago.

Post by **Ojisama** » 25 May 2023, 20:05

News has come that Cineworld looks like it will be able to continue after it comes out of bankruptcy protection in July. It has been able to raise
$1.8 Billion from investors to offset it's $4 Billion debt.

Cinemagoers will be relieved to learn it has said it will continue to run its venues 'without interruption' and 'as usual'. In a statement today, it said: 'The group continues to honour the terms of all existing customer membership programmes, including Regal Unlimited and Regal Crown Club in the United States and Cineworld Unlimited in the UK.'

This news comes as the chain reports a better than expected performance in recent months as movie goers become more confident to return to theatres to see a string of new blockbuster movies.

Rich-Allen1976 · Post by **Rich-Allen1976** » 25 May 2023, 20:10

Ojisama wrote: ↑
25 May 2023, 20:05
News has come that Cineworld looks like it will be able to continue after it comes out of bankruptcy protection in July. It has been able to raise
$1.8 Billion from investors to offset it's $4 Billion debt.

Cinemagoers will be relieved to learn it has said it will continue to run its venues 'without interruption' and 'as usual'. In a statement today, it said: 'The group continues to honour the terms of all existing customer membership programmes, including Regal Unlimited and Regal Crown Club in the United States and Cineworld Unlimited in the UK.'

This news comes as the chain reports a better than expected performance in recent months as movie goers become more confident to return to theatres to see a string of new blockbuster movies.

Cineworld, and Cinemas in general, were BIG victims of Pandemic restrictions IMO.

Also, last year, I cancelled my Unlimited card and have started going to the Odeon in Town, the seats are nicer, and their equivalent of the Unlimited card (which is just the app, not a physical card) is about £4 a month cheaper than the UC.

Post by **Beerkeg** » 27 May 2023, 15:41

I've never liked going to a cinema... I dunno the atmosphere is uncomfortable, the sounds is always way too loud and then you have the annoyance of other people being around eating stuff and generally being noisy.... I've only been to the cinema to watch a movie like 4 times in my life...I prefer buying or downloading a movie and just watching it at home.