Regal Cinemas to Close Indefinitely

Movies

As 007 goes, so goes the cinematic landscape. In the wake of No Time to Die’s latest delay, Cineworld has decided to close all is theaters beginning October 8; this includes Cineworld theaters in the UK and Regal Cinemas in the United States. While losing some major end-of-year releases like the next James Bond movie and Black Widow is undoubtedly a major factor in Cinemark’s decision, closing Regal Cinemas was also largely impacted by my tin-pot dictator of a governor, Andrew Cuomo, refusing to open movie theaters in New York. New York and California account for a huge chunk of the movie business, and without its biggest markets or any big new releases, it doesn’t make financial sense for theaters to open. And those release delays are beginning to snowball, as now Denis Villeneuve’s Dune will also eschew its December slot for October 1, 2021 (which will put it up against The Batman). Cinemark hasn’t said when its theaters will reopen, which is probably the smart move right now because the assurances thugs like Cuomo make aren’t worth the compromised air through which they’re uttered.

Part of me wants to say, “This is what Regal gets for switching from Coke to Pepsi.” Seriously, though, I suppose this was inevitable, and I suspect it’s probably better for the theaters in the long run. According to Ken Thewes, chief marketing officer for Regal, it would be more expensive to stay open with no new releases and COVID restrictions than it would be for them to close till this mess is over. I don’t doubt it; if they open, they’ll have to pay staff and keep food and drinks stocked, and that will be difficult to do with limited capacity and moviegoers like myself who are reluctant to sit in a mask for three hours to watch Scarlett Johansson kick someone in the face. People are talking about movie theaters going away for good, but I don’t think that will happen. Regal, AMC, and some of the other biggies – as well as independent theaters – may, but the demand will return, and someone will fill the vacuum their destruction creates. Too many of us love going to the movies, even if we hate what Hollywood has largely become, and we’ll go back when we can. The world will right itself eventually, and I’m confident that will include movie theaters, even if different company names come before the trailers. As for the Dune/The Batman showdown, well, I would bet on the Bat to win the box office, although I’m much more interested in Dune, despite not being able to get past about 120 pages of the novel (God, that book is boring, and it reads like it was written for kids) and being a big fan of Batman in general. In the meantime, I guess it’s drive-ins and Blu-rays for us.

Are you surprised by the theater closings? Do you think they’ll be able to recover? Will the Hollywood elite stop supporting the people who are devastating their industry? (That one’s rhetorical.) Let us know in the comments and stay tuned to Geeks + Gamers for more movie news!