Cineworld Posts $3 Billion 2020 Loss Due To Coronavirus
Theater chain Cineworld, which also owns Regal stateside, is forging a path to re-open in the U.K. starting in May, but is expressing uncertainty “about its ability to continue as a going concern,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. This sentiment is a graver doubling down on the chain’s reaction last year to theaters losing its foothold on debut windows–last summer, Cineworld said striking a compromise between theatrical and home digital releases of new movies is a model it “do[es] not see any business sense in.”
Cineworld recently reported lower 2020 financials, including its first-ever full-year loss, which helps explain the decidedly not-sunny outlook from the theater chain. But it’s hardly a shock that it’s feeling the effects of COVID-19–which has ravaged many chains around the world, large and small. The theater chain group in full reported a $3 billion loss in 2020, compared to a $212 million profit in 2019.
And just like in the United States with how individual citizens have recently gotten coronavirus-related stimulus relief, Cineworld has announced it’s secured binding commitments for $213 million in additional cash to boost its financial flexibility “in the event of continued disruption as a result of COVID-19.”
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