A view of the Regal Loews Cinemas movie theater in Times Square in New York City.
Noam Galai | Getty Images
As lockdowns get easier, Regal Cinemas will reopen in the US after being closed for six months.
The cinema chain owned by Cineworld will reopen approximately 500 locations on April 2 with limited capacity based on local guidelines. In most cases, turnout is limited to 25% to 50%.
Regal Cinemas presents Warner Bros. “Godzilla vs. Kong” movie open during its first weekend. “Mortal Kombat” will hit theaters April 16.
Warner Bros. has made the decision to release all of his 2021 films in theaters and on his streaming service HBO Max at the same time. This meant it had to renegotiate deals with every cinema company to ensure its movies played on the big screen.
Cineworld is the latest theater chain to agree to these terms and to enter into a long-term agreement with the studio to ensure that there is a longer period between the release of a film in theaters and its availability in the home market beyond 2021.
Warner Bros. and Cineworld have signed a multi-year agreement starting in 2022 that stipulates that Warner Bros. ‘features have to play in theaters for 45 days before moving to streaming platforms or video-on-demand.
In the UK, the deal is for 31 days and can be extended to 45 for movies that open with a high enough box office gross.
Regal Cinemas is the second largest theater chain in the US, just behind AMC Theaters. The company had chosen to close its cinemas six months ago.
Mooky Greidinger, the CEO of Cineworld, told CNBC at the time that closing locations in the US and UK was one way to stop the ‘bleeding’. He said his company lost less money by not working.
With local restrictions relaxing in places like California and New York, it appears that Regal is more confident that its theaters will be able to thrive and return to profitability.
According to data from Comscore, the two states together account for 21.5% of total US box office receipts each year.
New York City cinemas were allowed to reopen with limited capacity during the first week of March, and Los Angeles cinemas were allowed to reopen two weeks ago.
New York City makes up nearly 24% of New York State’s total box office and Los Angeles accounts for about 30% of California. These cities have above-average ticket prices and population density, but are also hubs of the entertainment industry, making them vital to the industry’s financial well-being.
The reopening of those two cities gives studios the confidence to release big blockbuster films and cinema operators the confidence to reopen locations. As of last weekend, about 51% of North American theater has been open to the public, according to Comscore data.