Cineworld has today confirmed plans to temporarily close all 127 of its sites across the UK, affecting up to 5,500 employees.
The chain has decided to close all 600 locations in the US and UK after the new James Bond movie, No Time To Die, was delayed until April.
Up to 45,000 employees will be affected in the UK and the US - the Cineworld's two biggest markets. It is thought up to 5,500 jobs are at risk in the UK.
The boss of the cinema giant said the company would have been 'like a grocery shop with no food' after film studios delayed several major releases because of the Covid-19 crisis.
The chain will close 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse sites in the UK this Thursday - sending shares down by as much as 57% as markets opened in London.
Boris Johnson acknowledged there would be 'tough times ahead' in the jobs market following the announcement but encouraged people to go to the movies.
The Prime Minister told reporters in central London: 'Obviously we hope to reduce, to keep the numbers of people who lose their jobs down as much as we can, but clearly there are going to be tough times ahead.
'That's why we've already invested £190 billion in supporting jobs, livelihoods around the country.
'Supporting local cinemas - I think we've already put £30 million in, but what I would say to people is that local cinemas do now have ways of making their shows go on in a Covid-secure way and I'd encourage people to go out to the cinema, enjoy themselves and support those businesses.'
Cineworld today confirmed it was considering the temporary closure of its UK cinemas, as well as its US cinemas, but that 'a final decision has not yet been reached'
Are you a Cineworld worker affected by the closures?
Do you work for Cineworld? Get in touch via amie.gordon@mailonline.co.uk
Speaking to Sky News, Cineworld chief executive Mooky Greidinger said today: 'Many significant movies have moved, like Mulan, like Black Widow, like Kingsman - Wonder Woman moved from October to December - and on Friday we got the news that the Bond movie - that, needless to say, for the UK is the biggest movie of the year - also decided to move.
'From a liquidity point of view, we were bleeding much bigger amounts when we are open than when we are closed ... we would be like a grocery shop with no food - we had to take this decision.'
He said the company's 45,000 affected employees, 'know how important they are to us - we see our employees as a big family, we are very proud of them'.
He added: 'In order to secure their place of work we have to take this measure now. I hope they will be supported by all kinds of government plans.'
Mr Greidinger said the decision 'was not made lightly', adding: 'We did everything in our power to support safe and sustainable reopenings in all of our markets.'
Fast & Furious sequel F9 is pushed back AGAIN to May 2021
The Fast And The Furious series will not be seeing the checkered flag anytime soon.
The release of the highly-anticipated sequel F9 has been delayed again as it is now set for release on May 28, 2021 during Memorial Day weekend it was announced by Universal on Friday.
Back in March it was reported that the film was delayed to April 3 2021 according to The Hollywood Reporter.
However the most recent change was made hours after James Bond film No Time to Die delayed its release from November to April 2, 2021.
Universal is distributing the film internationally.
The Fast and Furious movies are always big earners at the domestic and international box office and the absence of F9 will impact the 2020 box office in a major way. The past two films have made over $1 billion.
Just a month earlier the full trailer had been unveiled.
On Friday, the release of Bond film No Time To Die was delayed for the second time because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The film was meant to hit cinemas in November, but fans will now have to wait until April 2 next year before seeing Daniel Craig's final outing in the role.
The movie joins other potential hits such as Black Widow and Wonder Woman: 1984, which have been delayed by the pandemic.
Last week, the release of the highly-anticipated Fast and Furious sequel F9 was also delayed again, while Disney announced last month that its live-action version of Mulan instead debut on its streaming service Disney Plus instead of a theatrical release.
The new Fast and Furious meanwhile is set for release on May 28, 2021, it was announced by Universal yesterday.
Mr Greidinger said Cineworld will wait until 'the appropriate time' to talk about reopening.
Shares in FTSE 250-listed Cineworld more than halved today after the giant said it will temporarily shut down its cinemas.
Cineworld shares crushed as much as 56 per cent to 17p in early trade, although they settled to trade down 30 per cent by 0930.
They are down about 90 per cent since the start of the year, when they were trading at around 220p, before the pandemic struck.
The chief executive of Vue Cinemas has said the company will try to avoid lay-offs but is being forced to look at all options, after rival Cineworld closed all its theatres in the UK and US.
Tim Richards said cinema chains were dealt a 'body blow' by the delay of the next James Bond film, No Time To Die, until April next year.
'We are struggling, we're absolutely struggling, we came into this after a record-breaking year, both as an industry and as a company ... we were well placed to ride this through, but this was unexpected,' he told Sky News on Monday.
Alongside the closure plans, bosses of Cineworld Group PLC are reportedly preparing to write to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and culture minister Oliver Dowden to say the industry has become 'unviable'
How the UK cinema industry took a hit in coronavirus pandemic
Today's news comes as another knock-back for the UK cinema industry, which took a profit hit when the country was plunged into lockdown in March following the outbreak of coronavirus.
After months of forced closures, Cineworld was due to reopen its theatres on July 10, after lockdown measures were eased by the government, allowing the reopening of cinemas from July 4.
But it delayed the reopening of its cinemas in the UK by more than two weeks until July 31 to coincide with 'recent adjustments to the schedule of upcoming movie releases'.
Social distancing measures were also introduced, including such as one-way systems, perspex screens for staff, mandatory contactless payment and no more pick and mix.
However, despite reopening, Cineworld raised doubts over its ability to survive a second lockdown as it reported a £1.3bn loss for the first half of the year because of the Covid-19 crisis.
The cinema chain, which is the largest in the UK and second largest in the world behind Chinese firm Wanda Cinemas, posted pre-tax loss for the six months to June compares with profits of £110m a year earlier.
Issues were further compounded by a short supply of big blockbusters throughout the summer.
Christopher Nolan's spy-thriller Tenet set to be one of the highlights.
However industry experts have reportedly been 'spooked' by the film's lacklustre performance on the big screen, causing other major studios to postpone their major releases.
He said that while studios are under pressure, they are taking decisions by focusing on the US, rather than cinemas in Europe and Asia.
'Everybody is struggling,' he said.
'My one frustration is I think the studios are guilty of being a little bit US-centric and seeing what's happening in New York and LA, and not really looking globally.'
Asked if Vue would shut any sites, he said: 'We're being forced right now to look at options.'
Earlier on Monday, Mr Richards told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We're good to go.
'Our customers right now...there's a pent-up demand like we've never seen before to go out and enjoy a safe environment socially with others.
'Our problem right now is we have no movies. This was a big blow for us.
'We're likely going to make it through; I'm concerned about the independents and the small regional operators right now that are going to really struggle, and when they close they may not reopen.
'We've tried to retain all of our jobs for the 5,500 employees we have in the UK and that's still our goal.
'We're going to try and find a way through this.
'This was an industry that was not broken.
'We came into this as a very strong industry; we just need to make it through the next three or four months where there are no movies.'
But staff took to Twitter overnight to slam the company for not telling employees about the plans before they were reported.
One Twitter user said: 'This is going out to all my fellow Cineworld colleagues up and down the country, wishing you the best in these early hours with the news of the closures.
'Been with Cineworld for 12 years, to find out I've not got a job via Twitter; once again; is damn appalling.'
Another, whose husband works for Cineworld, said: 'Just checking Twitter before bed ... oh looks like we just found out via Twitter that my husbands place of work is closing, thanks for telling your employees Cineworld, finding out on Twitter as usual.
'I guess we'll wait to hear from them at some point in the future.'
The latest film in the James Bond series 'No Time To Die', which had been scheduled to debut in theatres on November 11, has now been postponed until April 2021
CINEWORLD: WHAT HAS LED TO THE CINEMA CHAIN SHUTTING ITS THEATRES?
What are the short-term causes of the closure?
The company's current troubles partially stem from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, which forced it to shut sites across the UK and other key markets in March.
Although sites reopened in July, and even earlier in other regions, social distancing rules and a reluctance from studios to release big-ticket films hampered audience figures.
On Monday, Cineworld said that, without these releases, it has been unable to provide UK and US audiences 'with the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theatres against the backdrop of Covid-19'.
Major studios, such as Disney, announced heavily-delayed schedules or even pulled some films from cinema release entirely, with Disney opting to release its live-action Mulan film on its own streaming platform instead.
The latest hammer blow was James Bond studios MGM and Universal's decision to push No Time To Die's release from November to April 2021.
Mooky Greidinger, chief executive of Cineworld, said it will announce reopening plans when key markets recover and 'studios are able to bring their pipeline of major releases back to the big screen'.
What long-term issues have led to this?
Dwindling audience numbers and a thin pipeline of new releases were a particular concern to Cineworld due to long-standing uncertainty in its finances.
The cinema group has grown rapidly in recent years on the back of acquisitions, buying rivals in different regions by lumbering the parent company with significant debts.
In 2018, the company snapped up US chain Regal.
The deal saw Cineworld inherit 535 cinemas, but also 1.6 billion dollars (£1.2bn) in liabilities which AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said are 'now crushing the group'.
Its latest results revealed that it only had a cash balance of 285 million dollars (£220m), compared with around 8.5 billion dollars in debts (£6.6bn), consisting of 4.2 billion in borrowings and 4.3 billion in lease liabilities.
Cineworld's latest proposed takeover, of Canadian chain Cineplex was its most ill-fated with move after being agreed in December and then collapsing after Cineworld pulled out in the face of the pandemic.
The ensuing costly legal battle with Cineplex continues to rumble on in the backdrop.
Cineworld is not alone in the sector for sitting on top of significant debt, with Odeon-owner AMC having around five billion dollars (£3.9bn) of debt, even after agreeing to cut its debt-pile by up to 630 million dollars (£486m) in July.
What is the history of the business?
Cineworld was founded by Steve Wiener in the UK in 1995, growing steadily until it was snapped up by private equity giant Blackstone for £120 million in 2004.
The deal resulted in the start of Cineworld's expensive acquisition spree, with the business snapping up UK rival UGC months later.
Blackstone floated the company on the London stock exchange in 2007, before the company expanded further with the acquisition of the upmarket Picturehouse chain in 2012.
Two years later, the company merged with central and eastern Europe's biggest cinema group Cinema City but opted to keep the Cineworld name.
The Cinema City chain had been started in 1930 with Armon Theatre in Israel by Moshe Greidinger, the grandfather of the company's current chief.
Which cinemas and brands are at risk?
The group covers a litany of global brands but is best known in the UK for its core Cineworld, which operates 102 sites across the country.
Its ownership of Picturehouse, which has 25 sites across the UK, also means it owns some of the most recognisable theatres in the UK.
Monday's damning update casts a shadow over historic sites such as Brixton's Ritzy theatre, Edinburgh's 106-year-old Cameo theatre and Brighton's 110-year-old Duke of York, which are all operated by Picturehouse.
What does this mean for workers?
Cineworld said that up to 45,000 employees will be affected by the announcement in the UK and US, with the move particularly perilous as it comes weeks before the end of the Government's current furlough scheme.
A group on Twitter named the Cineworld Action Group also took to the social media site to comment on the reports.
A Cineworld staff member, who did not want to be named, said they felt 'betrayed'.
The employee said: 'None of us have been told a single thing yet, so me and my work colleagues are sort of in panic mode right now, wondering what's going to happen to our jobs, especially this close to Christmas.'
Alongside the closure plans, bosses of Cineworld Group PLC are reportedly preparing to write to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and culture minister Oliver Dowden to say the industry has become 'unviable'.
Cineworld said today: 'As major US markets, mainly New York, remained closed and without guidance on reopening timing, studios have been reluctant to release their pipeline of new films.
'In turn, without these new releases, Cineworld cannot provide customers in both the US and the UK - the company's primary markets - with the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theatres against the backdrop of Covid-19.'
Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said firms had received 'a lot of support' after the news broke on Monday.
Asked if the Government will help the chain, she told Sky News: 'One of the things Cineworld has cited is that cinemagoers want to be able to see new films coming through, as opposed to just seeing films of the past, and that's something which the whole industry can work together to deploy.
'Cineworld will have been supported throughout the year through the furlough scheme through other ways the Government has been supporting businesses.
'Conscious that aspects of the main furlough scheme are coming to an end, but there is a successor scheme there.'
Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'The new jobs support scheme, which will subsidise wages of part-time workers, will provide no lifeline for the 5,500 Cineworld UK employees who will lose their jobs this week and many others across the industry are facing a bleak winter on jobseekers benefit, while they begin the difficult search for new positions in the run-up to Christmas.'
Labour shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens said: 'This is devastating news for Cineworld workers and cinema goers, and will have a knock-on impact on towns and city centres.
'The cinema industry was viable before the crisis and will be afterwards, when the film industry recovers.
'The failure of ministers to recognise the value of shut-down businesses, which now includes many cinemas, means they are consigning thousands of workers to the scrap heap.'
British Film Institute chief executive Ben Roberts raised similar concerns about the prospects of the industry as a whole, but emphasised 'great reasons to visit your local cinema - as distributors continue to offer new independent films to audiences'.
His call to get customers back into seats was echoed by the Government, which promised a package of more than £1.5billion to help the arts and culture industries recover from the pandemic in July.
A spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: 'The Government is supporting cinemas through the VAT cut on tickets and concessions, business rates holiday and bounce-back loans.
'Independent cinemas are also eligible for a share of £30 million from our unprecedented £1.5 billion culture recovery fund, and funding has started to be allocated already.
'Cinemas up and down the country are open for business and Covid secure.
'We urge the British public to support their local cinema and save jobs by visiting and enjoying a film in accordance with the guidance.'
A statement on Twitter read: 'MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, today announced the release of NO TIME TO DIE, the 25th film in the James Bond series, will be delayed until 2 April 2021 in order to be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience.
'We understand the delay will be disappointing to our fans but we now look forward to sharing NO TIME TO DIE next year.'
Reports of Cineworld closure plans comes amid a bloodbath of jobs on the high street, with 193,731 job losses now announced by major British employers since the start of the lockdown in March.
Last week, TSB has said it will cut around 900 jobs as part of plans to close 164 of its high street bank branches.
The Edinburgh-based bank said it expects most of the redundancies to be voluntary but did not rule out forcing staff out.
Major high street chains including Boots, WH Smith and Marks and Spencer had already announced job cuts.
Lunch chain Pret a Manger announced 2,800 job cuts earlier this year, while coffee giant Costa announced plans to cut 1,650 jobs.
FROM DUNE TO DEATH ON THE NILE: THE CURRENT 2020 FILM RELEASE SCHEDULE
Late last week James Bond studios MGM and Universal delayed the release of No Time To Die for a second time.
The release of Christopher Nolan's action-thriller Tenet in August offered the industry a needed boost, making more than £5 million at the UK and Ireland box office in its opening weekend.
However, Disney decided at short notice to release its live-action Mulan film - which had been expected to draw family audiences back to movie theatres - on its Disney+ streaming platform instead.
Another of this year's hotly anticipated releases, Wonder Woman 1984, has also had its release date pushed back. The superhero sequel, starring Gal Gadot, had been set to arrive in the US on October 2 but now has a December release date.
Here is the current release schedule for 2020, which may be subject to change:
Another of this year's hotly anticipated releases, Wonder Woman 1984, has also had its release date pushed back
October 16
The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (Launches on Netflix)
Rebecca (Released in cinemas before Netflix release on October 21)
Over The Moon (Released in cinemas before Netflix release on October 21)
October 28
The Witches (Launches on HBO Max)
November 13
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
November 27
Soul
December 11
Free Guy (20th Century Studios)
Peter Rabbit 2 (Columbia Pictures)
December 18
Coming 2 America
Death On The Nile (20th Century Studios)
Dune (Warner Bros)
December 26
Wonder Woman 1984 (Warner Bros)
Nearly 200,000 job losses revealed by UK firms since lockdown began
Some 192,831 job losses have been announced by major British employers since the start of the lockdown in March as follows:
