Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld to file for bankruptcy

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Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld to file for bankruptcy

Post by Brian Lutz »

https://www.ign.com/articles/cineworld- ... nema-chain

With $4.8 billion in debt, slower than anticipated return to the theaters after the shutdowns and less than expected returns from films such as Top Gun Maverick and Thor: Love and Thunder, Regal Cinemas' parent company will be filling for bankruptcy protection in the US and UK. They also cite a lack of upcoming films through the rest of 2021 as a factor.
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Re: Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld to file for bankruptcy

Post by mbz321 »

Already posted here a few days ago (by me).
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Re: Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld to file for bankruptcy

Post by reymann »

i wonder how many regal locations will close or be sold off to smaller theater chains due to bankruptcy.
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Re: Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld to file for bankruptcy

Post by storewanderer »

Cinemark is supposedly doing very well. Yet I talked to someone who works for Cinemark who was recently reduced to just one day a week of working as they were told they are closing the theater entirely some days. I could not validate that schedule online, but I can see in one location in Reno, they are only opening for a few showings in the 5 PM to 7 PM range most days of the week, and only operate all day during the weekends.
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Re: Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld to file for bankruptcy

Post by Alpha8472 »

Regal Cinemas is the worst chain of all of the big theater chains. They have the worst corporate policies and customer service training. Regal was always about upselling. They forced their employees to ask a customer if they would like a combo at the concession stand. If the employee did not ask a customer if they wanted a combo the employee could be written up and the customer would be given a free movie ticket.

Then during a movie, the employees were forced to go into the movie theater wearing a bright reflective vest and walk in front of the movie screen blocking the movie. This is due to the secret shopper program. If the secret shopper does not see an employee check each auditorium the required number of times the manager of the theater would lose his or her bonus. It was a harsh program that caused the movie experience to be totally disrupted by employees.

Regal was all about cost cutting to save money. They chose the cheapest popcorn. It tasted awful and was no where near as good as Orville Redenbacher. AMC and Cinemark chose Orville Redenbacher which has the most popped kernels. There is nothing worse than chomping down on unpopped rock hard corn or having partially popped corn crack your tooth.

Regal also switched to Pepsi products. Pepsi products are cheaper for a restaurant or cinema. Coca Cola products are preferred by more customers. Unhappy customers could lead to fewer soda sales, but Regal didn't care. They just wanted to improve their bottom line by choosing the cheap soda.

In addition, Regal used Klipsch speakers in their cinemas. These are widely seen as under-powered and awful sounding. Again, this was done just to save money. The sound quality suffered at the expense of the corporate directive. Any other brand of speaker would be a vast improvement, but Regal refused to budge.

It would be great if Regal were broken up and smaller independent theater companies could take over. There are small independent chains that really run their cinemas well. They have friendly employees and genuinely treat their employees better. Even Cinemark, has a better customer service training program. Cinemark is all about good customer service. That company goes out of its way to make sure every employee gives the best customer service. The training is outstanding and employees are cheerful, positive, and helpful.

Movie theaters have had to cut costs. This means they operate only part time during the busiest days of the week and only during the peak evening movie times. It is not cost effective to pay employees to run a theater if only 1 person shows up to a movie showtime. I remember many times in the past when I would go to a multiplex during the mornings and I had the movie theater to myself. It was not cost effective. Back then there were union projectionists and full time movie theater managers. I suppose they would run the morning shows using the managers and minimal staff back then. Now every employee is part time. They got rid of the union projectionists, and full time managers are no longer around.
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Re: Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld to file for bankruptcy

Post by mbz321 »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 23rd, 2022, 11:58 pm Regal Cinemas is the worst chain of all of the big theater chains. They have the worst corporate policies and customer service training. Regal was always about upselling. They forced their employees to ask a customer if they would like a combo at the concession stand. If the employee did not ask a customer if they wanted a combo the employee could be written up and the customer would be given a free movie ticket.

Then during a movie, the employees were forced to go into the movie theater wearing a bright reflective vest and walk in front of the movie screen blocking the movie. This is due to the secret shopper program. If the secret shopper does not see an employee check each auditorium the required number of times the manager of the theater would lose his or her bonus. It was a harsh program that caused the movie experience to be totally disrupted by employees.

Regal was all about cost cutting to save money. They chose the cheapest popcorn. It tasted awful and was no where near as good as Orville Redenbacher. AMC and Cinemark chose Orville Redenbacher which has the most popped kernels. There is nothing worse than chomping down on unpopped rock hard corn or having partially popped corn crack your tooth.

Regal also switched to Pepsi products. Pepsi products are cheaper for a restaurant or cinema. Coca Cola products are preferred by more customers. Unhappy customers could lead to fewer soda sales, but Regal didn't care. They just wanted to improve their bottom line by choosing the cheap soda.

In addition, Regal used Klipsch speakers in their cinemas. These are widely seen as under-powered and awful sounding. Again, this was done just to save money. The sound quality suffered at the expense of the corporate directive. Any other brand of speaker would be a vast improvement, but Regal refused to budge.
All this seems rather nit-picky to me. I highly doubt the average theater patron has noticed or cared about many, if any of these points. Regal was my main theater growing up due to a plethora of them in the Philly suburbs, with AMC having much fewer locations. I never noticed anybody walking across the front of a screen during a movie. I think Regal's, and the theater industry as a whole--problems are a whole combination of things, mainly from the home entertainment angle. I doubt AMC and Cinemark are in much better shape than Regal. if bankruptcy does happen, those and others are the next in line.
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Re: Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld to file for bankruptcy

Post by Alpha8472 »

The theater check policy was many years ago. Hopefully, Regal has changed since then. It was quite awful.

Regal took over many theater chains over the years: United Artists, Edward's Cinemas, and many regional chains. Some theaters managed to keep their old names and were not significantly modified by Regal.

The problem sometimes was that Regal would not change the masking for scope vs flat movies.

Scope means wide-screen. Flat means the image is not as wide. If the theater does not adjust the masking correctly, part of the movie is cut off.

Regal loved to build movie theaters that were not wide screen. They loved the non-widescreen movie screens. So if your movie was a wide-screen movie the screen would shrink and you would have a smaller image projected on the screen. It was a less enjoyable experience.
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Re: Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld to file for bankruptcy

Post by BillyGr »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 24th, 2022, 7:45 pm The theater check policy was many years ago. Hopefully, Regal has changed since then. It was quite awful.

Regal took over many theater chains over the years: United Artists, Edward's Cinemas, and many regional chains. Some theaters managed to keep their old names and were not significantly modified by Regal.

The problem sometimes was that Regal would not change the masking for scope vs flat movies.

Scope means wide-screen. Flat means the image is not as wide. If the theater does not adjust the masking correctly, part of the movie is cut off.

Regal loved to build movie theaters that were not wide screen. They loved the non-widescreen movie screens. So if your movie was a wide-screen movie the screen would shrink and you would have a smaller image projected on the screen. It was a less enjoyable experience.
Hoyts is one that is now part of the company as well.
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Re: Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld to file for bankruptcy

Post by storewanderer »

Galaxy has a theater check policy. Sometimes that policy is contractual from the movie studio. Some operators opt to just roll a blanket policy out for all shows.
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Re: Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld to file for bankruptcy

Post by Super S »

Regal ticked me off years ago. I remember going to a theater with a group of about 15 friends who all paid separately. They literally cut the group off midway saying the movie was sold out and wouldn't let the rest of us in, as well as a few others in line behind us. This was before cell phones and I was able to convince the ticket taker to let us in so we could tell the others where we would be, and was surprised to see the theater was maybe half full. We ended up just staying and nothing was said, but I gained an idea of how poorly run the chain was at that time and have only been to one of their theaters once or twice since then.

I am not much of a theater person anyway, but when I do go see a movie I usually am out of town where they aren't the only operator and generally have better experiences all around when I visit theaters operated by others/independents.
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