I can see why cinema was so interested in end of the world stories.
I should think a lot of cinemas will shut down this year or only open in the evenings if energy remains this high. I used to work for Odeon and unless a lot has changed most of them have almost no insulation and keep their screens warm with massive gas burner heating systems on the roof. I can’t imagine it will be economical to heat 10+ massive rooms all day.
Kinda sad, but it’s been on the cards for years, even before the pandemic.
It’s a shame as a cineworld card holder for probably 12 years or so. I’ve been to the cinema a lot since Covid hit and it has definitely suffered as a result, I don’t think I’ve had a busy screening since, it’s not been at the capacity levels pre Covid. I have enjoyed the visits more due to a lack of noisy patrons etc but it would be good to see more people going again.
Who could even afford to go to the cinema apart from well-off folk?
Even before the rising inflation and cost-of-living crisis, it was a ludicrously expensive day out just for one person to go to the pics, let alone families or those on a couples date or whatever.
Cinemas have been ripping the customers off for years now with their exploitative fees (the price of tickets alone has always been inexcusable, let alone added expenses like food/drink), so forgive me for not shedding a single tear for a greedy cinema chain going bust.
Most cinema’s sit near empty for the majority of screenings and are dependent on cheap energy and high prices. With increasing energy scarcity, the film industry will need to look at reduced screenings and even higher prices to stay solvent. The days of the dozen plus screen multiplex are over. I think we’ll see more local theatres and community centres setting up slimmer operations to give people the cinema experience without having the overheads of a full on multiplex.
The other question is what to do with the empty space? There are very few exisiting retail companies that need the square footage of the average cinema. It could potentially be converted into housing but who wants to live on a retail park? My best bet is that most will sit empty and will eventually get demolished.
Most of my fave screens are cineworld. This sucks.
I hope someone can take them over and keep the screens open. Don’t they own picturehouse and regal cinemas too?
7 comments
I can see why cinema was so interested in end of the world stories.
I should think a lot of cinemas will shut down this year or only open in the evenings if energy remains this high. I used to work for Odeon and unless a lot has changed most of them have almost no insulation and keep their screens warm with massive gas burner heating systems on the roof. I can’t imagine it will be economical to heat 10+ massive rooms all day.
Kinda sad, but it’s been on the cards for years, even before the pandemic.
It’s a shame as a cineworld card holder for probably 12 years or so. I’ve been to the cinema a lot since Covid hit and it has definitely suffered as a result, I don’t think I’ve had a busy screening since, it’s not been at the capacity levels pre Covid. I have enjoyed the visits more due to a lack of noisy patrons etc but it would be good to see more people going again.
Who could even afford to go to the cinema apart from well-off folk?
Even before the rising inflation and cost-of-living crisis, it was a ludicrously expensive day out just for one person to go to the pics, let alone families or those on a couples date or whatever.
Cinemas have been ripping the customers off for years now with their exploitative fees (the price of tickets alone has always been inexcusable, let alone added expenses like food/drink), so forgive me for not shedding a single tear for a greedy cinema chain going bust.
Most cinema’s sit near empty for the majority of screenings and are dependent on cheap energy and high prices. With increasing energy scarcity, the film industry will need to look at reduced screenings and even higher prices to stay solvent. The days of the dozen plus screen multiplex are over. I think we’ll see more local theatres and community centres setting up slimmer operations to give people the cinema experience without having the overheads of a full on multiplex.
The other question is what to do with the empty space? There are very few exisiting retail companies that need the square footage of the average cinema. It could potentially be converted into housing but who wants to live on a retail park? My best bet is that most will sit empty and will eventually get demolished.
Most of my fave screens are cineworld. This sucks.
I hope someone can take them over and keep the screens open. Don’t they own picturehouse and regal cinemas too?