Cineworld, Parent Company Of Regal Cinemas, Plans To File For Bankruptcy After Disappointing Financial Earnings
Image source: Geek Tyrant
Regal Cinemas’ parent company Cineworld announced that they were filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
Although people are returning to theaters, there aren’t enough films (especially blockbusters) being released to keep the momentum going. The company was hoping that blockbuster films like Top Gun: Maverick, and Thor: Love and Thunder would boost ticket sales, but the numbers were lower than predicted. The next large-scale movie coming to theaters will be Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which doesn’t release until Mid-November.
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Cineworld also filed for bankruptcy in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, but thanks to creditors, was saved. Cineworld’s competition, AMC theaters, nearly suffered the same fate but managed to pull through by boosting shares thanks to meme stocks and social media.
Looming in the future is Cineworld’s $5 billion debt load coming into maturity. Another blow was the $1 billion lawsuit judgement against the company for the collapse of the acquisition deal with Canadian cinema chain Cineplex. Streaming services have also amped up their offerings thanks to the pandemic, by releasing films either direct-to-platform or releasing them in theaters and streaming.
In a 2022 survey conducted by Morning Consult, 55% of people surveyed said that they are more invested in watching movies at home. Cineworld is the second-largest theater chain, with nearly 800 sites across 10 countries including the US, UK, Ireland, and Israel.
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Sources: IGN; Wall Street Journal; Variety; CNBC