Regal Cinemas Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

The last major theater chain holdout has scheduled its reopening date, as Cineworld’s Regal Cinemas has announced (via THR) that select theaters will open its doors on April 2, just in time for Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla vs. Kong.” And with that, not only do we see the next major hurdle for the theatrical release business finished, but also, WB has officially unveiled its plans for theatrical exclusivity in 2022.

A metaphorical bomb was dropped yesterday in the world of the film industry. Though the bomb was not a real explosive, there has already been significant real-world damage to theater chains such as AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas, and more, as WarnerMedia announced plans to release its entire 2021 Warner Bros.

Regal Cinemas, in the US at least, is closed down completely, right now. That’s hundreds of locations around the country with their doors locked and no movies playing on its various massive screens.

Remember last month when Cineworld, the parent company behind Regal Cinemas, announced that it would be closing the bulk of its theaters in the US and the UK? At the time, the reason was the fact that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wasn’t opening theaters in the state and it was negatively affecting the entire industry. Well, Cuomo did allow for New York theaters to reopen (outside of NYC, at least), and Regal opened the doors to a handful of cinemas in the state.

Just last week, after the surprise shutdown of Cineworld (and thus, Regal Cinemas locations) in the US and UK, AMC Theatres came out and told everyone that things should be just fine and the world’s largest cinema chain had no plans to shut down its theaters. Well, it appears that the CEO might have been speaking a bit too optimistically, as new statements from AMC point to a company on the verge of collapse.

With yesterday’s confirmation from Cineworld, the parent company of Regal Cinemas, that the company would be closing all of its US and UK movie theaters “until further notice,” film fans (and box office analysts) feared the worst. When would AMC follow suit? And would this be the final nail in the coffin of theater exhibition in 2020 (and possibly forever)? Well, AMC isn’t ready to close its doors.

As the business week begins today, we’re already seeing massive financial implications from the news of “No Time to Die” being delayed and Cineworld shutting down its US and UK cinemas.

Cinemas around the world are in trouble. I know, I know, this is shocking, right? Well, the truth is that with each passing quarter, the financial disclosures from the large cinema chains are getting more and more grim.

Christopher Nolan has put his money where his mouth is and already heading back to enjoy films on the big screen. We know this thanks to a report from Deadline and a recent tweet from Regal Cinemas about the filmmaker’s latest visit.

“Our main message now to our customers is: Come back to the cinemas that you love, because they are safe and they are waiting for you.” So said Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld, during a virtual press conference last week, but he wasn’t just speaking for Cineworld, which owns Regal Theaters and is the second-largest cinema chain on the globe (behind AMC).

Last weekend, AMC, Regal, and many other cinemas reopened for the first time in five months, since they were all shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And while the box office numbers weren’t what you would call “massive,” the Russell Crowe film, “Unhinged,” did bring in around $4 million and showed that there are people that are ready to go back to the cinema.

Following in the wake of similar announcements by AMC Theatres now that more concrete cinema release dates for new films have been decided (mainly “Tenet”), Regal Cinemas, has announced that it will begin to reopen its U.S. locations starting from August 21.

Did you think there wouldn’t be more news about “Tenet” since Warner Bros. took it off its release schedule? Think again.

When movie theaters reopen and everyone can rush back to see Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” the question remains whether or not it’s actually safe to do so? Sure, the large cinema chains have released statements about the precautions they’re taking to ensure the safety of the customers, but there’s no denying that it seems a bit crazy to sit in an enclosed space with a bunch of other people for more than two hours while some wear masks and others don’t (taking them off to eat popcorn and drink

As we’ve written about dozens of times already, cinemas in the US are facing an existential crisis right now and the COVID-19 pandemic is only adding to this issue. Even without a global pandemic forcing theaters in the US to close for months, the theatrical exhibition business has suffered over the past several years as people just find other things to do other than visit cinemas.

As we said yesterday, it was only a matter of time before AMC Theatres’ decision to delay the chain’s reopening until the end of July would impact the previously-announced dates for Regal Cinemas and Cinemark. And on cue, both of the other chains have revealed that their plans for reopening would also be delayed as studios try to figure out the best time to release films during a pandemic.

Well, that certainly didn’t take long. AMC Theatres and most of the theatrical chains were playing a disingenuous game of “hey, don’t look at me, we just play movies, talk to your Governors” bullshit with the whole COVID-19, theatrical re-openings and face-masks conversation (if a business can refuse you with “no shoes, no shirt” policy, they sure as hell can do a similar mask one during a pandemic if they choose).

Recently, we saw AMC Theatres, the largest cinema chain in the world, follow the lead of Regal Cinemas and Cinemark with announcing that facemasks will not be required by customers when the theaters reopen in July. This comes after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world’s cinemas to shut down for months.

Despite COVID-19 being a very real threat in many major cities and regions of the US and the rest of the world, cinemas are planning to reopen shortly, as in a couple of weeks. We’ve already heard from AMC about the plan to reopen almost all of the company’s locations by July and now, Regal Cinemas is following suit, as the chain has announced a reopening date of July 10 and a brand-spanking-new list of regulations customers and employees will have to follow.

In the grand scheme of reopening cinemas in the US, we all know that studios are only looking at a few areas as real barometers for when they can move forward with their release schedule. Those areas include New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

So far, we’ve heard from AMC Theatres and Cinemark about their plans to reopen cinemas in North America by July to welcome aboard Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” the film industry’s hope to save the summer movie season. However, we still didn’t know what Regal Cinemas had planned.

Regal Cinemas, which operates 543 locations in the United States, will be shutting down all of its movie theaters starting Tuesday.

The AMC, Regal, Cineplex and Alamo Drafthouse chains have imposed limits on sales as a safety precaution in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Pepsi will soon be the soft drink of choice for Regal Entertainment, Variety has learned.