[ad_1]
Cineworld is on track to cut tens of thousands of jobs after confirming plans to temporarily lower the curtains on its UK and US cinemas due to continued disruption from the coronavirus pandemic.
The company said its decision affected 45,000 employees, nearly 6,000 of them in the UK, and Sky News understands that they will lose their jobs this week in hopes that they can be rehired at a later date.
Cineworld announced the news 24 hours after receiving backlash from staff over media reports that renewed delays in key releases – like the new James Bond movie No time to die – had forced the company to temporarily close the screens.
Cineworld said on Sunday no decision had been made.
His announcement to the city on Monday read: “Cineworld confirms that it will temporarily suspend operations at all of its 536 Regal cinemas in the US and at its 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse cinemas in the UK as of Thursday October 8, 2020. .
With major US markets, primarily New York, remained closed and without guidance on reopening hours, studios have been reluctant to launch their portfolio of new films.
“In turn, without these new releases, Cineworld cannot offer customers in the US and UK, the company’s main markets, the variety of robust commercial films necessary for them to consider returning to theaters in the United States. context of COVID-19. “
Cineworld also had to provide information on the implications for membership customers.
Chief Executive Officer Mooky Greidinger said: “This is not a decision we make lightly, and we did everything in our power to support safe and sustainable reopening in all of our markets, including complying and often exceeding to the
guidelines for health and safety in our theaters and work constructively with regulators and industry bodies to restore public confidence in our industry.
“We are especially grateful and proud of the hard work our employees put into adapting our theaters to the new protocols and we cannot stress enough how difficult this decision was.
“Cineworld will continue to monitor the situation closely and communicate any future plans to resume operations in these markets at the appropriate time, when key markets have more concrete guidance on their reopening status and, in turn, the studios can bring their portfolio of major releases return to the big screen “.
