NOTE: This story has been updated withannouncements Tuesday from Paragon Theaters and AMC Theatres.
Regal Cinemasis closing its U.S. movie theaters indefinitely starting Thursday, including five theaters in Southwest Florida.
Regal owners Cineworld announced the news Monday.
The reason: The postponement of the new James Bond movie and other changes to the 2020 movie-release schedule.
The move comes less than two months after the country's two biggest theater chains, Regal and AMC, reopened their theaters nationwide. They’d been closed since March due to the pandemic.
"This is not a decision we made lightly," Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger said in a news release Monday, “and we did everything in our power to support a safe and sustainable reopening in the U.S.”
Read more:Regal, AMC theaters to reopen starting next week in Fort Myers, Naples, Port Charlotte
Regal isn't the only theater shutting down in Southwest Florida. Naples' Paragon Theaters Pavilion 12 — along with the chain's other Florida locations — is also taking a "short intermission and break in its daily operations," marketing director Don Edwards said Tuesday.
"This decision was made in part due to the continueddelay ofnew featuredfilms," Edwards said in an email. "The industry as a whole reacted to the current country wide situation, which prompted us to make a difficult choice in extending our intermission to all of our Floridatheater locations.
"However, we plan to reopen our theaters once there is sufficient new film content available to bring customers back to the theater in a safe and healthymanner."
Other U.S. theater chains, however, say they plan to remain open despite Regal's announcement.
AMC Theatres— the country's biggest theater chain— announced Tuesday that all its currently open U.S. theaterswill remain open. More than 80 percent of its theaters are open now, according to an AMC news release.
AMC noted that many movies are still planned for a 2020 release, including "The War With Grandpa," "Yellow Rose," "Come Play," "The Croods" and "Soul." And the Christopher Nolan film "Tenet" continues to bring people out to the theater.
“We take great comfort in knowing that literally millions of moviegoers have already visited our theatres," AMC CEO and President Adam Aron said in the release. "They have done so in part because of our AMC Safe & Clean protocols, developed in consultation with Clorox and faculty of the Harvard University School of Public Health.
"Our guests are telling us that our theatreshave never been cleaner, and that they recognize the great effort AMC is making to keep them healthy and safe.”
Aron also pointed out AMC'sagreement with Universal Studios to show its new releaseson premium video on-demand within three weeks of their theatrical debuts.
“Fortunately for AMC, our groundbreaking agreement with Universal Studios announced earlier this summer puts AMC in a position where we can open our theatres when others may feel the need to close," Aron said. "We are fully comfortable showing Universal films in our theaters, even as they implement premium video on demand as we have mutually agreed. This is because AMC will share in premium revenues coming from their early availability in the home.”
The postponed movie-release schedule won't affectBonita Springs' Prado 12 theater, either, says owner Mark Clement. Prado 12 wasthe first Southwest Florida theater to reopen and the only one to remain open continuously.
"We are going to continueto safely operateour theatres for our guests and remain open," Clement said Monday.
More:No joke: Comedy clubs in Naples, Fort Myers lead arts venues in reopening
In Naples, Silverspot Cinema saidit plans to continue operating — although with a changed focus that includes bothtraditional film screenings andprivate events where people rent auditoriums to watch movies or streamTV services.
“We’re still in business,” said Silverspot marketing director Sandra Pascual. “We’re still open. This isn’t going to stop us. It’s just going to change the way we look at things.”
Auditorium rentals give people a way to control social distancing and still do fun things, Pascual says. “People are tired of being at home. But they still want to feel safe."
Theater chain Marquee Cinemasdidn’trespond to a requestfor comment Monday, but its Cape Coral theater is still showing movies this weekand the chainhasn’t announced any changes on itswebsites or social media pages.
Regal’s announcement affects five Southwest Florida movie theaters:
- Regal Belltower and ScreenX in south Fort Myers
- Regal Naples 4DX & IMAX in North Naples
- Regal Gulf Coast & IMAX in San Carlos Park
- Regal Town Center in Port Charlotte
- And RegalCoconut Pointin Estero.
Regal is the second-largest theater chain in the U.S., following AMC. Its plans leave 536theaters closed in the United States, according to the Regal news release. About 45,000 employees are affected.
The closure also affects127 Cineworld and Picturehouse venues in the United Kingdom.
Cineworld didn’t share any plans for a reopening date, though the company stressed it would "continue to monitor the situation closely."
Producers said last week that the 25th James Bond thriller, “No Time to Die,” will be pushed back to April. It hadbeen scheduled to open in November.
That follows other major movies that have been postponed until 2021, including Marvel’s “Black Widow” and Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.” The only big movies left in 2020: Disney/Pixar's "Soul" (Nov. 20)and "Wonder Woman 1984" (Dec. 25).
Theater closure:Regal will close all US theaters after new Bond movie 'No Time to Die' delayed to 2021
"Without these new releases, Cineworld cannot provide customers in both the U.S. and U.K. — the company's primary markets — with the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theaters against the backdrop of COVID-19," Regal's news release said.
So far, audiences have been slow to return to movie theaters as the country continues to struggle with COVID-19 spikes and hot zones. Christopher Nolan's thriller "Tenet"has only made $45 million domestically, compared to $262 million overseas.
— USA Today contributed to this story.
Connect with this reporter:Charles Runnells (Facebook),@charlesrunnells (Twitter),@crunnells1 (Instagram)
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