Cineworld to announce cinema closures and job losses

Earlier in the month the cinema chain was reportedly drawing up plans to exit dozens of its roughly 100 sites.

The company has been in preliminary talks with some of Britain's biggest commercial landlords, including Landsec and Legal & General, about the plans.

Additionally, rent reductions are being sought at 50 of its sites and 25 would be unaffected.

Sky News reports that around half a dozen Cineworld cinemas would begin a closure process immediately and close their doors for the last time later in the summer.

The precise number of job losses was unclear on Thursday (July 25), although one source said it would be "at least in the hundreds".

Some Cineworld cinema sites set to close very soon

Cineworld initially held talks about a sale of the business with prospective buyers, but has now switched its focus to a formal restructuring process.

Currently, the company trades from more than 100 sites in Britain, including at the Picturehouse chain.

It grew under the leadership of the Greidinger family, acquiring chains including Regal in the US in 2018 and the British company of the same name four years earlier.

However, its multibillion-dollar debt caused issues and forced the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2022.

It delisted from the London Stock Exchange last August, having seen its share price collapse amid fears for its survival.

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Under the deal struck last year, several billion dollars of debt were exchanged for shares, with a significant sum of new money injected into the company by a group of hedge funds and other investors.

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Since it emerged from bankruptcy protection, Cineworld has appointed a new leadership team, installing Eduardo Acuna, who ran Mexican cinema chain Cinepolis's operations in the Americas, as its chief executive.

Other cinema operators are expected to step in to take over some of Cineworld's sites.

Cineworld also operates in central and Eastern Europe, Israel and the US.