As the government’s lockdown restrictions ease up, British cinemas will once again be allowed to open this weekend from 4 July. But while some film venues look set to open as early as possible, one of the major chains has in fact delayed its reopening. Cineworld had previously announced intentions to reopen its venues from 10 July, but has now pushed that back to 31 July.
In a statement, the chain confirmed that it will wait three more weeks to open up again – partly owing to the change in release dates for Mulan and Tenet, both of which were also pushed back in the past few days. “In line with recent changes to upcoming film release dates, we have made the decision to move our re-opening date to 31st July,” the statement says. “We hope that we will be able to re-open the doors of all Cineworld cinemas across the UK and Ireland at that time, subject to UK government restrictions. With the on-going pandemic, this new date remains subject to final confirmation.”
With Cineworld also operating the Picturehouse Cinemas chain, those venues too will remain closed until the 31st July – though, as the statement says, that date isn’t set in stone. As it currently stands, the likes of Odeon and Showcase are due to be up and running as of this weekend. And while the year’s biggest blockbusters remain a little way off, cinemas will instead be bringing back firm audience favourites in order to draw people back to the big screen in the meantime. Check your local cinema listings for more info.