Major movie theater chain in Sacramento closing down again. Here’s why

Regal Cinemas, one of the largest movie theater chains operating in greater Sacramento, is closing down again because of complications from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The theater chain said early Monday it would close all its theaters in the United States and United Kingdom, barely a week after theaters were allowed to open in Sacramento County under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new coronavirus protocols. The decision affects a total of 536 theaters in the United States.

Regal reopened five different cineplexes in the area: El Dorado Hills, Laguna Village, Natomas Marketplace, Delta Shores and Olympus Pointe in Roseville.

The Wall Street Journal said Regal’s parent, Cineworld Group, decided to suspend operations effective Thursday in part because of a shortage of popular movies. Major studios are postponing releases of blockbuster movies, such as the latest James Bond movie “No Time to Die.”

“We are like a grocery shop that doesn’t have vegetables, fruit, meat,” Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger told the Journal. “We cannot operate for a long time without a product.”

There was no immediate word on whether the other major theater chain in the Sacramento area, Cinemark, would continue operating.

Other big movies that have been postponed include “Wonder Woman 1984” and “Black Widow.”

“As major U.S. markets, mainly New York, remained closed and without guidance on reopening timing, studios have been reluctant to release its pipeline of new films,” Regal said in a statement from its U.S. headquarters in Tennessee.

“In turn, without these new releases, Cineworld cannot provide customers in both the U.S. and the U.K. — the company’s primary markets — with the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theatres against the backdrop of COVID-19.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 8:43 AM.