#Regal’s owner Cineworld gets $750M lifeline to avoid bankruptcy

Regal Entertainment’s UK-based owner Cineworld said Monday that it secured a financial lifeline to help it avoid a bankruptcy filing.

Lenders will provide the movie-theater owner with a $450 million loan to help it keep afloat through the coronavirus pandemic. Other lenders will provide Cineworld with additional flexibility on its revolving loan and other debt with various measures, providing it with more than $750 million of extra liquidity.

Cineworld said the loans will give it “financial and operational flexibility until lockdown restrictions in key jurisdictions are eased and studios are able to bring their enhanced pipeline of major releases back to the big screen.”

Cineworld’s shares were up about 20 percent in afternoon trading in London on Monday.

Last week, The Post reported that the world’s second-largest movie theater operator had been considering a rescue deal that could spur permanent UK cinema closures but help it avoid bankruptcy.

Movie theater owners worldwide have been under immense pressure as COVID-19 cases continue to rise, prompting a second wave of lockdown restrictions and more stringent guidelines.

Theaters also face the challenge that major Hollywood studios have been delaying blockbusters or sending them straight to streaming, leaving cinemas with few new movies to show customers.

As the virus rages on, some studios has been looking for new strategies that allow them to take advantage of streaming while also keeping movies in theaters.

Last week, Warner Bros. unveiled its plan to release “Wonder Woman 1984,” in theaters on Dec. 16 and also stream it on HBO Max starting on Christmas Day. Universal Pictures, home to blockbuster franchises like  “Fast & Furious” and “Jurassic World,” has inked deals with Cinemark and AMC, the world’s largest movie theater chain, to shorten the time it offers movies in theaters.

The deal gives the studio the flexibility to take its movies to streaming after 17 days, versus the traditional 74 days, while guaranteeing theaters have fresh content to show moviegoers.

Due to the pandemic and the delayed theatrical release schedule, Cineworld last month suspended operations at its more than 500 US locations after they were reopened in August. The company also temporarily closed its 127 locations in the UK.

Cineworld said Monday anticipates reopening its theaters no later than May 2021.