Regal Theatres To Temporarily Close, Includes NoVA Locations

VIRGINIA — Regal Cinemas will temporarily close its 543 theaters in the United States Thursday due to continued revenue losses from the coronavirus pandemic. That includes the locations in Northern Virginia.

On Monday morning, Cineworld confirmed it would suspend operations in the United States and United Kingdom starting Thursday, Oct. 8, and there was no reopening date set.

The company cited the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic in making its decision. Prolonged closures and the reluctance of motion picture companies to release new films drove the decision, according to Cineworld.

"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," Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger said in a statement.

Theaters are among the many businesses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Theaters in Northern Virginia started reopening in August after being forced to close March 19 to prevent the spread of the virus. Under the current phase three reopening guidance for Virginia, movie theaters must follow numerous guidelines, including a 50 percent occupancy limit and spacing between households.

In Northern Virginia, Regal operates nine theaters:

• Regal Kingstowne, 5910 Kingstowne Towne Center, Alexandria, VA 22315
• Regal Springfield Town Center, 6859 Springfield Mall, Springfield, VA 22150
• Regal Ballston Quarter, 671 North Glebe Road, Arlington, VA 22203
• Regal Fairfax Towne Center, 4110 West Ox Road Suite #12110, Fairfax, VA 22033
• Regal Manassas, 11380 Bulloch Drive, Manassas, VA 20109
• Regal Virginia Gateway, 8001 Gateway Promenade Place, Gainesville, VA 20155
• Regal Fox, 22875 Brambleton Plaza, Ashburn, VA 20148
• Regal Dulles Town Center, 21100 Dulles Town Circle, Suite 203, Dulles, VA 20166
• Regal Countryside, 45980 Regal Plaza, Sterling, VA 20165

"Cineworld will continue to monitor the situation closely and will communicate any future plans to resume operations in these markets 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," Greidinger said in a statement.

The company reports 45,000 employees will be impacted by the suspension of operations, which it had indicated Sunday may be coming.

A message to investors Monday morning stated theaters would close effective Thursday. Regal is the second-largest theater chain in the United States after AMC.

"We can confirm we are considering the temporary closure of our U.K. and US cinemas, but a final decision has not yet been reached," the theater chain's parent company Cineworld tweeted on Sunday. "Once a decision has been made, we will update all staff and customers as soon as we can."

Its decision comes on the heels of MGM's Oct. 2 announcement it was delaying the release of its newest James Bond film, "No Time To Die," from November until April 2, 2021.

Coronavirus has also pushed back the release of dozens of movies, including expected blockbusters like "Black Widow," which was originally set for release on May 1 (now tentatively expected in theaters May 7, 2021), "Wonder Woman 1984" (moved from a June 1 release to Christmas Day) and "The Batman" (moved from June 2021 to October 2021).

A Regal location at Potomac Yard in Alexandria has already permanently closed. The site is part of the future Virginia Tech Innovation Campus being planned.

Includes reporting by Patch editors Elizabeth Janney and Shannon Antinori