Moorestown Regal Cinema To Close Thursday

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Regal Cinemas, the latest victim of the coronavirus pandemic, will suspend operations at all United States locations, including at the Moorestown Mall, starting Thursday.

The closure, currently planned to be temporary, is a response "to an increasingly challenging theatrical landscape and sustained key market closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic," the parent company Cineworld confirmed in a statement Monday.

There are 536 Regal theaters in the United States, including one at the Moorestown Mall, 400 Route 38 in Moorestown.

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The company explained that studios have been reluctant to release their pipeline of new films.
As such, Regal is unable to have a "breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theatres against the backdrop of COVID-19," Cineworld said in its statement.

Approximately 45,000 employees will be impacted by the closures. No WARN notices had been issued related to the cinemas in New Jersey as of Monday morning.

The situation will be monitored closely, the company said, noting it would communicate any future plans to resume operations at the appropriate time, "when key markets have more concrete guidance on their reopening status and, in turn, studios are able to bring their pipeline of major releases back to the big screen."

"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 theaters and working constructively with regulators and industry bodies to restore public confidence in our industry," said Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger.

The announcement comes a little less than a month after Gov. Phil Murphy announced movie theaters in New Jersey could reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic. Read more here: New Movies, Inside Dining: What’s Happening In Moorestown

Regal Cinemas also has locations in New Jersey in Burlington, Turnersville, South Plainfield, Hamilton, Sewell, North Brunswick, Vineland, Mays Landing, Manahawkin and Phillipsburg.

With reporting by Kara Seymour

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