The Cineworld Group, the world’s second largest chain theater, has officially filed for Chapter 11 protection after revealing the move in a statement on Wednesday.
The British company owns Regal Cinemas and operates over 500 theaters across the US. Their move to go bankrupt was in order to lessen the company’s ever-increasing debt, while also trying to “strengthen its balance sheet and provide the financial strength and flexibility to accelerate, and capitalize on, Cineworld’s strategy in the cinema industry,” according to the company’s statement.
Alongside this, Cineworld also stated that they had about 2 billion dollars in financing from lenders in order to continue their operations. They do “[expect] to operate [their] global business and cinemas as usual throughout this process.” This means that for now, your local cinema will in fact stay open.
This move is not out of the ordinary however. Just last month the company proposed the idea of going bankrupt to try and close off their debt.
“We have an incredible team across Cineworld laser focused on evolving our business to thrive during the comeback of the cinema industry,” said Mooky Greidinger, Cineworld’s CEO. “The pandemic was an incredibly difficult time for our business, with the enforced closure of cinemas and huge disruption to film schedules that has led us to this point.”
According to Greidinger, for the company, going bankrupt is “part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen our financial position and is in pursuit of a de-leveraging that will create a more resilient capital structure and effective business.”
“This will allow us to continue to execute our strategy to reimagine the most immersive cinema experiences for our guests through the latest and most cutting-edge screen formats and enhancements to our flagship theatres. Our goal remains to further accelerate our strategy so we can grow our position as the ‘Best Place to Watch a Movie.'”
The company’s issues began around the pandemic era, as most cinemas across the country saw major issues with the rise of the coronavirus pandemic. Cineworld personally lost over 3.2 billion across 2020 and 2021.
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