Regal Cinemas Has No Immediate Plans to Reopen Theaters

Despite a handful of states reopening their economies in the wake of coronavirus-related shutdowns, Regal Cinemas plans to keep its locations closed for the foreseeable future. In a brief statement posted to the theater chain’s Twitter account Tuesday night, Regal revealed it has no immediate plans to reopen its 564 locations. All Regal theaters have been shuttered since March 16th.

“At this time, we have not made a decision when to reopen,” the statement reads. “We continue to work with authorities and studios in order to host our audiences and show them the big blockbusters in a safe environment. As soon as we have an opening date, we will share.”

Shortly after theaters around the country closed, studios shifted strategies to allow for more straight-to-video releases. After a controversy surrounding the VOD success of Trolls World Tour, Regal seemingly joined the likes of AMC by boycotting any future releases from Universal Studios.

“Cineworld’s policy with respect to the window is clear, well known in the industry and is part of our commercial deal with our movie suppliers,” Cineworld said in the statement. “We invest heavily in our cinemas across the globe and this allows the movie studios to provide customers all around the world to watch the movies in the best experience. There is no argument that the big screen is the best way to watch a movie.”

Regal then backtracked on the statement, saying they weren’t boycotting Universal films in a subsequent follow-up tweet.

“Regal is not boycotting Universal or any other studio,” Regal said in the tweet. “We will continue our normal policy and play movies that respect the theatrical window, allowing movies to be released first in theatres prior to streaming or VOD platforms.”

AMC and Cinemark, amongst others, continue to keep their locations closed.