Regal Cinemas owner Cineworld preparing for bankruptcy (gift card warning)
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Another gift card warning, this time for Regal Cinemas. Regal is the second largest movie theater chain in the USA. As always, the ability to use up gift cards in bankruptcy and reorganization is a future unknown.
Regal Cinemas (owned by international movie theater chain Cineworld) is preparing for a bankruptcy filing within weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal. Regal hired restructuring advisor firm Kirkland & Ellis, the same firm as Bed Bath & Beyond.
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@ctujackbauer This is a little different, I don’t think GC’s will be in jeopardy unless say, the theaters in your area were to close and you don’t have the ability to use them. They are looking at Chapter 11 in the US which would likely mean a restructuring. I honestly don’t see locaton closing until 2023 at the earliest, so people should have plenty of time to take in a movie or two and eat popcorn.
The Bed Bath situation where it’s an ‘unknown’ is if they liquidate stores, Gift Cards sometimes aren’t honored in liquidation sales. They should be ok online for the forseeable future even if a number of stores close.
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@mistercheap said in Regal Cinemas owner Cineworld preparing for bankruptcy (gift card warning):
@ctujackbauer This is a little different, I don’t think GC’s will be in jeopardy unless say, the theaters in your area were to close and you don’t have the ability to use them. They are looking at Chapter 11 in the US which would likely mean a restructuring. I honestly don’t see locaton closing until 2023 at the earliest, so people should have plenty of time to take in a movie or two and eat popcorn.
The Bed Bath situation where it’s an ‘unknown’ is if they liquidate stores, Gift Cards sometimes aren’t honored in liquidation sales. They should be ok online for the forseeable future even if a number of stores close.
Perhaps. Most of the value in Cineworld is in their locations and leases. At its best, reorganization would mean offloading poor performing locations with an acquirer taking the best locations.
But reorg can go from orderly to disorderly in a hurry. The vast majority of Sears and Kmart locations were sold for scrap or to CEO Eddie Lampert. Chrysler almost didn’t make it out of bankruptcy. Circuit City went from “we’re just offloading some debt” to “poof, sorry we’re closing everything.”
Cineworld is so levered up that nobody is going to make a whole offer for Regal Cinemas, and the debt holders may see more value in selling the land and ground leases than taking an offer for a cut-down version of Regal Cinemas.
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I used to be a secret shopper for the Regal Theater, in NJ years ago.
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My biggest regret was being stuck with over $700 in gift cards after souplantation closed permanently during the pandemic. Try to see as many movies at regal. AMC seems to be surviving for now thanks to stock speculators…
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@jbw said in Regal Cinemas owner Cineworld preparing for bankruptcy (gift card warning):
My biggest regret was being stuck with over $700 in gift cards after souplantation closed permanently during the pandemic. Try to see as many movies at regal. AMC seems to be surviving for now thanks to stock speculators…
And I thought I had it bad with my $400 at Souplantation.
