The boss of Vue cinemas confirms there are no plans to shut any of the chain’s multiplexes – and if anything, there’s room for expansion.
Amid a fairly miserable landscape for multiplex cinemas in recent times, the Vue chain appears to be the one offering a note of defiance.
We’ve seen over the past few years the Empire chain disappear altogether (albeit with several of its sites saved by Omniplex), and Cineworld just last week confirmed that it was looking to sell off around 25 of its UK sites. The boss of Vue, though, Tim Richards, has insisted that his company will not be closing any of its cinemas in the near future.
As reported by Screen Daily, Richards has said, “We have no intention of closing any of our cinemas. We have not closed any of our cinemas since the pandemic. In fact, the opposite is true. We’ve picked up a few new cinemas and we are building a couple of additional cinemas.”
Tellingly, Vue has already been linked with some of the sites that Cineworld is looking to offload. It’s also pointed to the good relationship it has with its landlords, and the need for fair rents. The pull of a big multiplex cinema, he reasons, is of benefit beyond the immediacy of a balance sheet.
Richards was also keen to dismiss the idea that multiplex cinemas are going the way of major high street chains such as Debenhams and BHS, which were once huge and have since gone kaput. And while in the past he’s expressed caution over the limited 2024 release slate from studios, he’s bullish about the state of the industry beyond that.
It’s better to write a story like this than another of the doom and gloom stories that seem to surround multiplex cinemas since the start of 2020. Here’s to more good news, and to more cinemas opening – with a bigger range of films to watch at them, too.