Regal Hollywood & IMAX has remained closed for the past month while Marion and Epic Theatres of Ocala have been operating at limited capacity.
Regal, whose only Ocala location is at 2801 S.W. 27th Avenue, previously closed hundreds of locations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. After a brief reopening, the company once again decided to close its doors at the beginning of last month.
“In response to an increasingly challenging theatrical landscape and sustained key market closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cineworld, parent company of Regal, today announced that it will be temporarily suspending operations at all of its 536 Regal theatres in the U.S., as of Thursday, October 8, 2020,” read a press release issued by the company.
“This is not a decision we made lightly, and we did everything in our power to support a safe and sustainable reopening in the U.S.,” said Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger. Greidinger indicated that safety protocols were put in place and that despite the company’s best efforts to remain open, the decision to close was one met with difficulty.
The release went on to explain that the lack of new movie releases was preventing the company from providing customers “with the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theaters against the backdrop of COVID-19.”
The closures will impact approximately 40,000 employees across the U.S. The company says they will monitor the situation closely and will communicate any future plans to “reopen or resume operations at the appropriate time.”
Locally, both Marion Theatre and Epic Theatres have continued operations.
In recent weeks, the Marion Theatre, which is under new management, has revamped its movie offering, including a slate of speciality screenings for classic films.
Epic Theatres has been screening a combination of the few new movies that have been released during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a collection of classic films.