Cineworld confirms plans to temporarily close all sites across region, putting thousands of jobs at risk

Thousands of staff across the south face uncertainty as the world's second largest cinema chain announced it's to temporarily close.
Thousands of staff across the south face uncertainty as the world's second largest cinema chain announced it's to temporarily close. Credit: ITV News Meridian

Thousands of staff across the south face uncertainty as the world's second largest cinema chain announced it's to temporarily close. Cineworld employs 5,500 people across the UK. 

There are 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse cinemas. Those in our region include:

  • Aldershot

  • Ashford

  • Brighton

  • Chichester

  • Crawley

  • Dover

  • Eastbourne

  • Newport on the Isle of Wight

  • Poole

  • Rochester

  • Weymouth

  • Whiteley, Hampshire

Cineworld blames the delay of new  film releases. This afternoon, another cinema chain - Odeon - announced that a quarter of its cinemas will move to weekend only showings.

That's despite the Prime Minister today encouraging people to go to the movies.

  • Report by ITV News Meridian's Mary Stanley:

  • Report by ITV News Meridian's Tony Green:

The closures come as the release of the latest James Bond film was further delayed from November to spring 2021.

Bosses are set to write to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to tell them that cinema has become “unviable” as studios keep putting back blockbuster releases.

Cineworld had reopened most of its cinemas in July when lockdown measures were eased across the country.

The closures come as the release of the latest James Bond film was further delayed from November to spring 2021. Credit: ITV News Meridian

In a statement, Cineworld Chief Executive Mooky Greidinger said: “This is not a decision we made lightly, and we did everything in our power to support safe and sustainable reopenings in all of our markets – including meeting, and often exceeding, local health and safety guidelines in our theatres and working constructively with regulators and industry bodies to restore public confidence in our industry. We are especially grateful for and proud of the hard work our employees put in to adapt our theatres to the new protocols and cannot underscore enough how difficult this decision was."

The head of the UK Cinema Association said he fears the Cineworld closure is "indicative of challenges faced by the entire UK cinema industry at the moment".