Regal Indefinitely Closes All Theaters, Including In WA

WASHINGTON — Theaters have remained closed in Washington since the beginning of the pandemic, and those closures are starting to take a major toll on theater owners.

Regal Cinemas has announced plans to close its 543 theaters in the United States Thursday due to continued revenue losses from the coronavirus pandemic. The chain has 27 locations in Washington.

On Monday morning, Cineworld, Regal's parent company, confirmed it would suspend all operations in the United States and United Kingdom starting Thursday, Oct. 8. The closures are to last indefinitely and no reopening date has been set, though the company says they will "monitor the situation closely" and "communicate any future plans to resume operations in these markets at the appropriate time."

Prolonged closures and the reluctance of motion picture companies to release new films in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic drove the move, 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, and while they have reopened in some states, they remain closed in Washington. In September, Cineworld reported a $1.6 billion loss for the first six months of the year before taxes.

In Washington, Regal operates 27 theaters:

• Regal Alderwood, Lynnwood
• Regal Auburn, Auburn
• Regal Barkley Village IMAX, Bellingham
• Regal Bella Bottega, Redmond
• Regal Cascade IMAX, Vancouver
• Regal Cinebarre Mountlake, Mountlake Terrace
• Regal Cinema 99, Vancouver
• Regal City Center, Vancouver
• Regal Crossroads, Bellevue
• Regal Everett, Everett
• Regal Issaquah Highlands IMAX, Issaquah
• Regal Lakewood, Lakewood
• Regal Longston Place, Puyallup
• Regal Martin Village ScreenX, Lacey
• Regal Marysville, Marysville
• Regal Meridian, Seattle
• Regal Northtown Mall, Spokane
• Regal Parkway Plaza, Tukwila
• Regal Poulsbo, Poulsbo
• Regal South Hill Cinema, Puyallup
• Regal South Sound Cinema, Port Orchard
• Regal Spokane Valley, Spokane Valley
• Regal Tall Firs, Bonney Lake
• Regal The Landing, Renton
• Regal Thornton Place, Seattle
• Regal Three Rivers Mall, Kelso
• Regal Vancouver Plaza, Vancouver

The company reports 45,000 employees will be impacted by the suspension of operations.

Regal is the second-largest theater chain in the United States after AMC.

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).

Running a theater without new releases was "like a grocery shop that doesn't have vegetables, fruit, meat," Greidinger told the Wall Street Journal. "We cannot operate for a long time without a product."

Patch staffers Elizabeth Janney and Shannon Antinori contributed to this report