The Empire Cinemas chain has announced it is going into administration, with six cinemas to be closed and 150 jobs lost.
Eight of the 14 cinemas in the group – under the Empire Cinemas and Tivoli brands – will remain open.
Brits have enjoyed the latest films on 128 screens in Empire cinemas across the UK since the firm was opened in 2005, but it is now unclear whether they will ever show films again.
Here’s what you need to know.
Which cinema locations are being closed?
The following locations are being closed straight away.
- Bishop’s Stortford
- Catterick Garrison
- Sunderland
- Swindon
- Walthamstow
- Wigan
Additionally, Sutton Coldfield cinema is already closed and will not reopen, the administrators from accounting firm BDO announced.
Any advance tickets purchased for the closed cinema will be refunded.
Gift cards and guest passes will be accepted at the cinemas that remain open.
These include:
- Birmingham
- Clydebank
- High Wycombe
- Ipswich
- Sutton
- Bath
- Cheltenham
Why has the Empire Cinemas chain entered into administration?
Administrators have said they are looking for a buyer and have blamed the financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, inflation and cost of living crisis for closures.
A restructuring partner at BDO, assigned as an administrator, said: “The well-publicised challenges for the leisure sector for the impact of Covid-19, rising inflation and the cost of living crisis have significantly affected the company’s business.”
Companies amassed huge amounts of debt over the pandemic years as lockdowns stopped typical trading.
In addition, prices have been increasing after post-Covid supply problems drove costs up and the invasion of Ukraine resulted in high energy prices.
Empire Cinemas Group is not alone in struggling, the world’s second-largest cinema operator, Cineworld, is due to exit bankruptcy this month.
When was Empire Cinemas founded?
Empire Cinemas was founded in 2005, following the mergers of Odeon and UCI and Cineworld and UGC.
Empire Leicester Square was the company’s flagship site until its sale to Cineworld in August 2016.
Its website says: “From the earliest days of the moving image, the Empire played host to the technological advances of cinema. In March 1896, Louis and Auguste Lumiere gave the first theatrical performances of a projected film to a paying UK audience at the Empire, assuring a unique place in cinema history.
“By the turn of the century the Empire had established itself as one of London’s premiere theatres, with live acts and ballet interspersed with performances of short film reels.
“With the dawning of the golden age of motion pictures in the late 1920s, the Empire was acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who rebuilt the Empire as a movie theatre, with the stated intention of creating a ‘veritable temple to the motion picture’.
“Bearing the famous lion trademark, the Empire was to be the jewel in MGM’s circuit of movie theatres around the globe, unsurpassed not only in London’s West End but also across Europe and beyond.
“After setting admission records through the 30s and 40s – twelve million admissions in its first six years – the Empire became a haven for the public during World War II with its classic atmosphere and glossy escapist movies.”
