Cineworld to close all its UK cinemas putting 5,500 jobs at risk

I’m surprised they lasted this long to be honest.

Even if they do manage to stay open now, I can’t see them getting enough people through the door to remain profitable for a long time to come.

Maybe they could charge obscene amounts for items you can buy in the Boots next door for a fraction of the price... Oh, wait a minute...
 
Cinemas were getting more and more expensive and less value for money in my opinion. That said, I live in the middle of the countryside, and if my wife and I want to go to the cinema it's a logistical nightmare (kids) so for us, life has moved on and cinemas just aren't a feasible experience anymore.

That said, if I were living in a city, and kidless I'd probably go more - I used to have a cineworld membership (so watched many movies per month), but that was 10 years ago.

Now with broadband, UHD online content, home cinema systems, whilst not exactly the same experience, is good enough for me and I can pause the movie, and go and do something else!
 
I love going to the cinema for the big screen experience. Dunkirk, Star Wars, Marvel. We get cheap cineworld tickets through the other halfs work.
Local cineworld is a dump. But it is Stevenage...

My local independent cinema & theatre have reopened. They reopened later than the cineworld. Theatre side is still closed and will be until next year at least.

Fantastic place though. Staff are wonderful and fun. Star wars midnight premieres for the last trilogy were close to Christmas so the had the salvation army band in playing carols. Until about 11:55 when the conductor changed his baton for a light saber and they'd play the star wars theme. :D

Stevenage cineworld is a dump? It's a veritable palace compared to Luton!
 
Not much of a loss for me as I have only been a handful of times over the last few years. I find most modern films completely crap, and can't stand the whole super hero silliness. In the last 5 years, the only film I came out wanting to immediately go back in and watch again, was The Gentlemen. I almost couldn't believe they still made films 'like that' anymore. Genuinely funny, good acting, and just all round good cinema.
 
Dear God....
I knew Luton was bad.. but bad enough to make Stevenage a Palace. :eek:

I regularly end up in random Cineworlds if I have a few hours to kill somewhere, unfortunately Stevenage is one of the nicer ones. They're usually fine after a refurb but after a year the wear is really bad. Bedford they were supposed to be refurbishing and putting in tiered seating but building a Vue in the town centre scrapped that plan so the lobby got a lick of paint and a new carpet.

Cineworld doesn't care about presenting a film and I only still go because it's a very cheap escape at £12/month.
 
I pretty much only go to places that do a screening of Anime films (so pretty much just Vue and BFI in the past), and for blockbuster stuff like End Game (which I saw at a nearby Everyman Cinema).

To quote(ish) Thanos, "It is inevitable".
 
I forget most of the country have obscene cinema prices. I wouldn't go much at all if it was 12 quid a ticket!

No idea why it's so cheap here
 
I like the cinema but I guess I'm partly responsible for their downfall. I'm actually capable of going somewhere for 2 hours without feeling the need to stuff my face with overpriced snacks. The way some of you go on, you'd think it was mandatory. :p
 
I like the cinema but I guess I'm partly responsible for their downfall. I'm actually capable of going somewhere for 2 hours without feeling the need to stuff my face with overpriced snacks. The way some of you go on, you'd think it was mandatory. :p

Can’t remember the last time I bought snacks inside a cinema. May as well start burning tenners.
 
I like the cinema but I guess I'm partly responsible for their downfall. I'm actually capable of going somewhere for 2 hours without feeling the need to stuff my face with overpriced snacks. The way some of you go on, you'd think it was mandatory. :p
Ridiculous prices inside that’s why, last time I went was to watch End Game, they were doing an offer of large popcorn and a large coke for £9.50 so I popped next door to Wilkinson’s and got their large Pic n Mix for £2.
 
If Cineworld have just been bumbling along with the same uncomfy seats and grotty cinemas I'm not surprised - the last one I went to was awful.

One thing i will say for Cineworld though is that they've been innovating with new experiences - they have a 4D screen, and there's one screen where on certain landscapes the screen also goes down the sides, so you have a full peripheral vision. I'm sure these will likely be as gimmicky as 3D was - but the point is that i don't see Odeon doing anything innovative. So maybe they're wasting less money on these gimmicky things, or perhaps they're spending more of their money on keeping the cinemas upgraded with comfy seats versus cineworld.
 
I like the cinema but I guess I'm partly responsible for their downfall. I'm actually capable of going somewhere for 2 hours without feeling the need to stuff my face with overpriced snacks. The way some of you go on, you'd think it was mandatory. :p

Whilst a fair comment, it's not unexpected really.

It's akin to going into Currys to buy a laptop and getting offered "deals" on anti-virus, microsoft office, cloud storage, a laptop bag, a mouse etc. Companies make most of their money from these add-ons, so same will apply to the cinema. Considering how cheap popcorn is to make, i imagine they're making 90+% profit on popcorn, if anything it's gone beyond pure greed. If they were actually competitive in pricing (i accept it'll be impossible for them to have parity with supermarkets) even being slightly more expensive than what you'd pay in a shop, a lot of people wouldn't bother with the faff of having to go to a shop to get packet popcorn and a bottled drink for slightly cheaper. Mass volume of sales would still deliver good profit, and keep people in a job. If not they may as well do away with confectionary staff and just stick a load of vending machines in the foyer for you to buy your popcorn / drinks / sweets / ice creams. I'm sure someone's probably designed a hotdog vending machine by now.
 
I'm surprised that cinemas haven't been playing more older films during this period. I would imagine that licenses to play older classics would be lower than modern blockbusters. e.g. Alien, Terminator, Back to The Future, etc, etc. It would bring in some cash to keep them afloat and I'm sure the publishers would welcome it. I guss the problem is making the experience worth actually visiting the cinema rather than renting and watching at home. But some of the smaller cinemas have been able to do it over the years.
 
I used to regularly buy a drink to support the cinema as the price with discount wasn't far off buying one in a pub, but again it's back to the staff not caring if the mix isn't dispensing properly I've started taking my own bottles in again. They might be trying new technologies with 4dx/imax/screenX but for the £4-6 uplift on the ticket price it's not special enough for that price. Used to love the free 3D uplift as it meant I'd usually be in a screen with other unlimited holders.
 
I'm sure these will likely be as gimmicky as 3D was - but the point is that i don't see Odeon doing anything innovative

Not sure I would call it innovation, more like throwing money down the drain. 4D really.... the marketing team do come up with some rubbish.
 
No surprise, when we went to watch Tenet it was eerily quiet and had around 50 people in a screen that sits 700.
 
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