Cineworld loaded $8B of debt onto a cinema chain, then the screens went dark

Cineworld was the world's second-largest cinema chain, operating 9,139 screens across 747 sites in ten countries, including the Regal circuit in the United States and Picturehouse in the UK. The company had grown through debt-funded acquisition, and by October 2020 it carried approximately $8 billion in debt.

When the pandemic closed cinemas in March 2020, the debt remained but the revenue did not. Cineworld shut its entire circuit again in October 2020, citing delayed Hollywood releases — No Time to Die alone slipped from November 2020 to April 2021. The closure affected 45,000 workers. An attempt to acquire Canada's Cineplex collapsed, and a court ordered Cineworld to pay C$1.23 billion in damages; the share price fell nearly 30% overnight.

By August 2022, shares had fallen from £1.97 before the pandemic to 20p. On 7 September 2022, Cineworld filed for Chapter 11 in the United States. On 31 July 2023, the company entered administration in the UK and emerged from Chapter 11 the same day, having slashed billions in debt. CEO Mooky Greidinger stepped down; lenders appointed his replacement.

The Barbenheimer box-office summer of 2023 helped the restructuring land, but the underlying problem — a debt load built for perpetual growth, in an industry whose product can be postponed indefinitely — remained. Cineworld continued closing UK sites through 2024 and 2025.