Cineworld Group Plc has shuttered 23 theater sites since filing for bankruptcy last year and plans many more closures, according to a legal adviser in a restructuring hearing Wednesday.
(Bloomberg) — Cineworld Group Plc has shuttered 23 theater sites since filing for bankruptcy last year and plans many more closures, according to a legal adviser in a restructuring hearing Wednesday.
The cuts so far represent about 5% of the company’s theater count in August. The world’s second-largest cinema chain now has 478 sites.Â
The closures are potentially good news for other theater operators, which will have less competition for customers. The theater industry has suffered from a dearth of films and consumers still skittish to return to cinemas during the pandemic.Â
The owner of Regal theaters in the US and Cineworld theaters in the UK said it will consider more closures of venues that aren’t turning a profit. Cineworld, which is based in London, has also been renegotiating its theater leases with landlords.
Earlier this week, Cineworld said it would run a sale process focused on proposals for the group as a whole and will begin talks with interested parties starting this month. The company denied comments made by rival AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. in a regulatory filing in December that it had held talks with Cineworld to acquire its US and European assets. Cineworld’s creditors had also held early discussions about selling its eastern European operations, Bloomberg reported previously.Â
Cineworld filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, to help pay off nearly $9 billion of debt and leases accumulated as part of an acquisition spree. The company also increased its debt as a result of pandemic-related closures.Â
Read more: Cineworld’s ex-billionaires watch movie theater empire crumble
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.