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

bartledvd · 5 Oct 2020 at 13:17

Been a Cineworld unlimited member for couple of years and I would say we take full advantage of it see pretty everything that comes out and when mixed with meerkat movies you can take friends for free.

Shame they are closing as we have watched a few rereleased classics recently but the place was empty only two films since lockdown finished had anyone other viewers.

dod · 5 Oct 2020 at 13:40

Boris encourages people to visit the cinema
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54387856

SixTwoSix · 5 Oct 2020 at 13:51

Hades said:
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.

Showcase near me have been showing 8-10 old movies weekly for the last 6 months and a handful a week for a few years before that. Just this year i've rewatched Aliens and Jurassic Park for a fiver a ticket. Last year I rewatched Alien, The Ring, Terminator and a few others that escape me now.

They're currently showing Akira, Us, Harry Potter, Rocky and some others.

Raymond Lin · 5 Oct 2020 at 13:55

I have had Odeon Limitless for a few years, of course since March this has come to an abrupt stop. Besides the Covid reason, there just isn't enough movies for me to keep subscribing to the £17.99 a month. I used to go at least once a week, sometimes I go as many as 4-5 times a week.

I love the cinema but without the movies, it's just a large empty room.

Semple · 5 Oct 2020 at 13:59

dod said:
Boris encourages people to visit the cinema
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54387856

Seems daft really. I mean i'm fully against shutting down parts of the economy, but i'm getting a bit fed up of the picking and choosing of what can and can't be open. It seems that nothing should be open, but as soon as you complain to the government that your revenue is down and thousands of jobs are at risk, the government then start pleading with the public to use those businesses.

Raymond Lin · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:01

dod said:
Boris encourages people to visit the cinema
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54387856

I was intended to go but after reading a story last month on a Starbuck where 56 people got infected, some even upstairs seperate floor from the original infected, from 1 person who was there for 2 hrs through circulated air. I thought better of it. 2hrs in circulated air is exactly what a cinema is, social distancing wouldn't do anything to prevent it.

Semple · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:03

Raymond Lin said:
Besides the Covid reason, there just isn't enough movies for me to keep subscribing to the £17.99 a month. I used to go at least once a week, sometimes I go as many as 4-5 times a week.

I love the cinema but without the movies, it's just a large empty room.

That's pretty much what the chief exec of Vue said. People are wanting to go to the cinemas, but with studios not releasing any films, it's stopping people from going.

Showing old movies is great, but there's only so many times people will keep going back for old films that they've likely seen several times before.

Frankly i'm amazed that there's not a consortium of some sort that can bring studios and cinemas together to discuss strategy. Because lets face it, if Cineworld/Vue/Odeon do all flop, the studios won't have a platform to release their films onto. I'm not quite sure they'll get the same buck by doing an exclusive release to an on-demand platform - didn't Mulan backfire on Disney+ with the high price they were charging their subscribers who are already paying for access to the platform.

Semple · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:05

Raymond Lin said:
I was intended to go but after reading a story last month on a Starbuck where 56 people got infected, some even upstairs seperate floor from the original infected, from 1 person who was there for 2 hrs through circulated air. I thought better of it. 2hrs in circulated air is exactly what a cinema is, social distancing wouldn't do anything to prevent it.

I could understand in a starbucks that people wouldn't be wearing masks, but i thought mask use was now compulsory in cinemas?

d_brennen · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:08

Haven't been to a Cineworld since my kid was little. We tend to go to the Everyman, before covid anyway. More expensive but nice sofas, nice snacks and drinks. Can't see the appeal of sitting in a large room full of Karens and Kevins and paying £10 for popcorn

Raymond Lin · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:09

Semple said:
I could understand in a starbucks that people wouldn't be wearing masks, but i thought mask use was now compulsory in cinemas?

Being complusory doesn't stop people not adhere to the rules, being dark I can't exactly see everyone besides the fact it's not me who can or want to police it.

Semple · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:11

Raymond Lin said:
Being complusory doesn't stop people not adhere to the rules, being dark I can't exactly see everyone besides the fact it's not me who can or want to police it.

True, but again this is something Cinemas will have to police if they want to show the public that they're perfectly safe to visit.

HEADRAT · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:15

dod said:
Boris encourages people to visit the cinema
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54387856

To see what : Tim Richards, founder and chief executive of the Vue cinema chain "Our problem right now is we have no movies and this [the delay to the Bond film] was a big blow for us"

Puzzled · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:21

dod said:
Boris encourages people to visit the cinema
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54387856

Wales:

The Welsh Government is considering quarantine restrictions for people travelling to Wales from Covid hotspots elsewhere in the UK.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-54420708

Scotland:

Further restrictions could be introduced "in the near future" to stop the spread of Covid-19 in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-54415973

Boris: Go to the cinema!

It took a big film to get me to go to the cinema before covid kicked off due to the cost, now I don't see any appeal at all. Plus all the big films have been delayed so there is nothing to make me consider going anyway, all the releases this year will end up on VOD as premium content and studios will make future decisions based on how that works financially.

Hopefully cinemas will make a strong comeback next year but I'd also like to see new releases coming out for home viewing quicker than they do now. Those two things don't really go together though.

Raymond Lin · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:25

Semple said:
True, but again this is something Cinemas will have to police if they want to show the public that they're perfectly safe to visit.

Everytime I go shopping (late at night, an hour before closing) I almost always see someone "wearing" a mask on their chin with their nose exposed.

Unless they have 2 cotton wool shoved up their nostrils, that mask is not doing anything and only fooling themselves.

adam cool dude · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:33

Semple said:
Seems daft really. I mean i'm fully against shutting down parts of the economy, but i'm getting a bit fed up of the picking and choosing of what can and can't be open. It seems that nothing should be open, but as soon as you complain to the government that your revenue is down and thousands of jobs are at risk, the government then start pleading with the public to use those businesses.

I was in Ikea on Sunday as we needed a new kitchen table as I am redoing the kitchen and there was no social distancing what so ever. Literally no different to a normal day with the exception of having to queue to get in. If everyone is wearing a mask you might as well just let everyone back into the cinemas as it would be no different a scenario. Even worse really as in Ikea you are having constant touch points all over which wouldn't be the case in a cinema.

Semple · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:34

Puzzled said:
but I'd also like to see new releases coming out for home viewing quicker than they do now. Those two things don't really go together though.

That's normally a case of the Studios milking the film for all they can get before releasing it to blu-ray/on-demand platforms. They're not going to release it onto blu-ray if they've still got lots of seats getting filled for their showings.

Raymond Lin said:
Everytime I go shopping (late at night, an hour before closing) I almost always see someone "wearing" a mask on their chin with their nose exposed.

Unless they have 2 cotton wool shoved up their nostrils, that mask is not doing anything and only fooling themselves.

I think that just describes the typical unintelligent British person. People don't seem to have issues being in a shop with them/standing behind them in a queue.

Hades · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:36

Puzzled said:
It took a big film to get me to go to the cinema before covid kicked off due to the cost, now I don't see any appeal at all. Plus all the big films have been delayed so there is nothing to make me consider going anyway, all the releases this year will end up on VOD as premium content and studios will make future decisions based on how that works financially.

I had a look at what's on a few days ago and there was nothing of interest at all.

Raymond Lin · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:46

Semple said:
I think that just describes the typical unintelligent British person. People don't seem to have issues being in a shop with them/standing behind them in a queue.

I try to limit my exposure to strangers as much as I can, that's why I go late at night, so that includes reducing my exposure in enclosed spaces as much as possible especially as we head into winter with the 2nd spike firmly on its way.

I just do not want to take that risk and I see no reason to, for a movie? Not worth it.

chroniclard · 5 Oct 2020 at 14:50

Happily pay 20 quid to stream a movie at home. Studios are pretty much going to have to follow that model at the moment.

Disney did ok with Mulan.

Scam · 5 Oct 2020 at 15:18

Malevolence said:
Ended up nearly having a fight with some mouthy, jobsworth **** because he grabbed me and tried to bar me from entering due to a bag of Haribo.

What's with everyone complaining about prices of snacks? Cinema's stopped caring about what you bought in yourself in about 1996 :confused:

Semple said:
That's normally a case of the Studios milking the film for all they can get before releasing it to blu-ray/on-demand platforms. They're not going to release it onto blu-ray if they've still got lots of seats getting filled for their showings.

Actually, it's the exhibitors (cinemas) that did that to themselves. It took a pandemic and subsequently a lot of mud-slinging before exhibitors agreed to have less than 3 months exclusivity on new releases. Blame them.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/28/amc...-to-run-in-theaters-before-going-digital.html

As part of the deal, Universal and Focus Features must play movies in cinemas for at least three weekends, or 17 days, before releasing those films on premium video on-demand platforms.
Previously, theaters would have the exclusive rights to films for 90 days.

Studios would be more than happy to have a short window as possible. Even the big blockbusters peter out after a few weeks and they'd make more from PVOD/streaming, but exhibitors have defended that 90 day window furiously for years.