Tom Cruise at the London Leicester Square Premiere of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’
(Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images f)Not even Maverick himself could save Cineworld from another life force sapping trading update — and inevitable share collapse.
The latest Top Gun outing might have made £65.3 million in the UK in June alone but Tom Cruise cannot do it all by himself. There was always going to be a blockbuster hiatus after the studios closed down during the Covid pandemic but it still seems to have caught Cineworld by surprise. Now hopes are riding on ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, which is slated for a December release.
Whether the British public will be in the mood for many cinema outings by then is another issue.
Dramatically higher energy bills will have kicked in and anyone remortgaging will face bills hundreds of pounds a month higher than when they last fixed.
A trip to the pictures has traditionally been seen as a cheap form of entertainment but prices have crept up, especially in central London.
All businesses are going to have to come up with imaginative responses to the autumn cost of living crunch once the summer days of holiday and festivals are a distant memory.
Whether it is restaurants buying cheaper cuts — lamb shanks in, rack of lamb out — to reduce menu prices, or cinema chains peddling far more £5 tickets during the week.
By Christmas the cost of living crunch will be in full spate. But consumers somehow always find a few pennies down the side of the sofa to give themselves a decent festive season. This year after the appallingly grim headlines from Ukraine and elsewhere there will be more need to celebrate than ever.
Let’s also hope that the cinema industry can start firing on all cylinders again to provide the moments of escapism that were sorely missed in the pandemic. And not just for Cineworld’s sake.
