With cinemas shut worldwide in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and families indoors, there has, perhaps, never been a worse time to be a cinema owner. Reporting its 2019 year-end fiscal results, Cineworld, the world’s second-biggest cinema chain with almost 10,000 screens in 11 countries, said that a two-month lockdown of all its sites could hurt its ability to meet its financial commitments. Independents are facing an even more uncertain time with rent to pay and no viable income source.
In theory, this is a temporary situation and we should all be flocking back into cinemas once the doors are open again. But could it be the beginning of a more permanent end to an already under-threat cinema-going experience, as audiences become increasingly accustomed to viewing at home in the digital age?