Cineworld preparing to file for bankruptcy

Not true for me the cinema experience is unique I have enjoyed the same movies far more in the big screen because it more immersive and it's got my full attention particularly IMax with the better screen and sound. I do agree it's more comfortable at home but your likely to play with your phone or get distracted by something or someone. That's what the cinema experience brings imo.
 
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I like the cinema, but 2 tickets, popcorn drink and some sweets set me back £50.

It's quite expensive.

Also I think the whole experience is being watered down over time with many cinemas now being fitted with inferior surround sound systems and poor calibration. Staff are virtually non existent these days aswell.

I'd like to go IMAX soon but waiting for a decent enough movie to be released to make it worth the trek
 
Depends how often you go. I got the cineworld card so for the price of a month £16 or even £11 to certain ones u can go as often as you like. If you go twice a month thats more than makes back the cost.
 
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jaybee said:
Is this a sign of how the majority of cinema chains will end up or is it specific to Cineworld do we think? Whenever we go to cinema - admittedly not a lot - they are literally dead. Shame because I like our local Cineworld. If you think back to the 90s when Cinemas were buzzing, we are a far cry from that since we can consume content on large screen TVs at home.
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I do think we'll start to see the demise of cinemas. What'll probably happen is cinemas will either shrink by footprint - lesser number of screens / lesser number of times films are shown. Smaller footprint keeps the costs down, and smaller staff numbers. Small towns etc will either have no cinema or a small cinema with only the bigger cities having more than one.

I wonder whether we'll start to see almost staff-less cinemas. I remember as a kid having to queue up at a ticket booth to get your tickets. Then as the years went by these were always closed and you had to buy from the confectionery counters. Then came the machines - I don't think you can even buy a ticket from a booth/counter anymore (at least at odeon). Confectionery counters could easily be replaced by vending style machines. You could have a turnstile on the entrance to a screen to scan your ticket for entry. So you'd literally only need a handful of cleaners to give it a quick clean between showings.
 
The Easygroup tried staff-less cinemas about 20 years ago, and tier pricing depending on how quiet/in demand the film was. Vending machines for snacks etc.

Cinemas already offer concessions, cineworld have bundle food offers on Weds/Thurs, you can use meerkat 2-4-1 on tues/weds, discounted sat morning showings, 10-25% off snacks with unlimited card. 25% off at select chain restaurants for your date night suggestion with unlimited card.

I love my Oled TV and full AV surround system, but I'd rather still go see films at the cinema. Probably the reason its going bust but we typically get 10 tickets worth of films with a £17 unlimited card and meerkat every month (I see a few extra films at the weekend)
 
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Kyo said:
Depends how often you go. I got the cineworld card so for the price of a month £16 or even £11 to certain ones u can go as often as you like. If you go twice a month thats more than makes back the cost.
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The only problem I find I have with this idea is that, for me at least, it makes less "special" when you're going every 5 minutes. I like to leave cinema trips for events like Dune 2 or the new Mission Impossible to make seeing those blockbuster films feel more special, rather than seeing B-list films just because I can.
 
ianh said:
The only problem I find I have with this idea is that, for me at least, it makes less "special" when you're going every 5 minutes. I like to leave cinema trips for events like Dune 2 or the new Mission Impossible to make seeing those blockbuster films feel more special, rather than seeing B-list films just because I can.
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It does start to become a chore. I've had odeons unlimited cards twice over the last 5-6 years for a total of about 24 months perhaps. The first time the membership was £20 a month so was a little under the cost of two tickets. Which isn't too bad, I know the first 6 months we made a lot of use out of it - maybe 2-3 times a week, even did a two films back-to-back (my arse was sore after that). It certainly gave us the luxury of taking a punt at films I very unlikely would have paid the £12 ticket to see.

After probably 9 months though the novelty pretty much worn off and you were forcing yourself to go and see at least 2 films a month to get your monies worth. Which made things worse when you go through a bout of naff or no releases. It got to the point after about 14-16 months where we'd probably not been at all in 6 weeks that we decided it was time to cancel.

Odeon had a great offer after thing's started opening up after the pandemic - think it was £15 a month for the first few months, so you only needed to see about 3 films in 2 months for you to be slightly better off with the card. Unfortunately though as most studios had shut during the pandemic it meant after the initial release of films - bond, top gun etc. Releases dried up and they were either naff or far and few between.
 
ianh said:
The only problem I find I have with this idea is that, for me at least, it makes less "special" when you're going every 5 minutes. I like to leave cinema trips for events like Dune 2 or the new Mission Impossible to make seeing those blockbuster films feel more special, rather than seeing B-list films just because I can.
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I guess but it really depends what you want and what you want to get out of it. I am quite a movie buff and do quite a stressful job and it doesn't help I WFH. I look forward to watching a good movies most weekends as it gets me out the house and relax. I don't force myself to go ever week. If there is nothing I fancy I don't go.

As some of you have mentioned if your seeing it as a chore then it's perhaps a good thing is to cancel but for me yes you occasionally get a few bad movies but you also get a few good surprises as well. Certainly suits me and it be shame to see Cineworld pack up.
 
There's still enough to pick and choose, I've seen a lot of films I probably wouldn't have even watched on TV, I've seen some films I was expecting to be great but were average, seen a lot of films which looked average but I really enjoyed. Pre covid you'd be looking at 2-3 new releases a week, it's similar now but there's a lot more Asian market to make up for the lack of hollywood/British releases. When I was younger I'd often double bill a couple of films in a weekend to see everything, now I'm fine with the 1-2 a week and being more selective. There's already a few films I've missed this year I would have watched but a blockbuster release has taken up the additional evening showing time.
 
Semple said:
I do think we'll start to see the demise of cinemas. What'll probably happen is cinemas will either shrink by footprint - lesser number of screens / lesser number of times films are shown. Smaller footprint keeps the costs down, and smaller staff numbers. Small towns etc will either have no cinema or a small cinema with only the bigger cities having more than one.

I wonder whether we'll start to see almost staff-less cinemas. I remember as a kid having to queue up at a ticket booth to get your tickets. Then as the years went by these were always closed and you had to buy from the confectionery counters. Then came the machines - I don't think you can even buy a ticket from a booth/counter anymore (at least at odeon). Confectionery counters could easily be replaced by vending style machines. You could have a turnstile on the entrance to a screen to scan your ticket for entry. So you'd literally only need a handful of cleaners to give it a quick clean between showings.
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If cinemas can't afford to pay a handful of staff then they don't have a viable business to begin with.
 
Darujhistan said:
If cinemas can't afford to pay a handful of staff then they don't have a viable business to begin with.
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Everyone seems alright with using the Uber app to grab a taxi rather than speaking to someone in a call centre nowadays. Why do you think cinemas might be any different? :confused: The big chains are all programmed and run remotely anyway. I'm not saying it's ideal but it's the way of the world.
 
I dont understand why people queue up to buy tickets now when its quicker, easier and cheaper to buy via the app.

In terms of staff they will always need cleaners and those cleaners need something to do between screenings so dont see food / drink counters going anywhere.

The death of cinema has been predicted so many times but TV, video and streaming have all failed to do that.
 
Scam said:
Everyone seems alright with using the Uber app to grab a taxi rather than speaking to someone in a call centre nowadays. Why do you think cinemas might be any different? :confused: The big chains are all programmed and run remotely anyway. I'm not saying it's ideal but it's the way of the world.
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What?
 
n111ck said:
those cleaners need something to do between screenings so dont see food / drink counters going anywhere.
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i imagine the issue for the companies is that those that buy tickets from the counter, are more likely to purchase snacks and drinks, where as those that purchase through the app just walk on in and sit down without purchasing anything more
 
Darujhistan said:
What?
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My point was that loads of things in this day and age are automated. Why not cinemas? If they don't need to pay staff, why should they? That said, they would need to pay cleaners at the bare minimum.
unwashed potato! said:
i imagine the issue for the companies is that those that buy tickets from the counter, are more likely to purchase snacks and drinks, where as those that purchase through the app just walk on in and sit down without purchasing anything more
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That is true. It's common knowledge that cinemas don't get much from the ticket sales themselves.
 
n111ck said:
I dont understand why people queue up to buy tickets now when its quicker, easier and cheaper to buy via the app.

In terms of staff they will always need cleaners and those cleaners need something to do between screenings so dont see food / drink counters going anywhere.

The death of cinema has been predicted so many times but TV, video and streaming have all failed to do that.
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Do people still queue up to buy tickets? I mentioned in an earlier post that I've not seen a manned ticket booth in probably 10 years.

I don't see cinema ever dying. But I do see it scaling back massively compared to what it is now.

unwashed potato! said:
i imagine the issue for the companies is that those that buy tickets from the counter, are more likely to purchase snacks and drinks, where as those that purchase through the app just walk on in and sit down without purchasing anything more
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Is there a reason they can't make those purchases through automated machines?
 
Scam said:
My point was that loads of things in this day and age are automated. Why not cinemas? If they don't need to pay staff, why should they? That said, they would need to pay cleaners at the bare minimum.

That is true. It's common knowledge that cinemas don't get much from the ticket sales themselves.
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But they do need to pay staff, do you think leaving 3-400 people unsupervised in a large building is a great idea?
 
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