CINEWORLD has confirmed plans to temporarily close its Runcorn cinema – and all other UK and US sites – after big studios started to delay their major film releases to wait for better audiences.

The decision will affect around 5,500 UK staff and 45,000 employees altogether.

It will shut 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse theatres in the UK from this Thursday, and 536 Regal theatres in the US due to ongoing coronavirus crisis and restrictions on hospitality venues.

Cineworld chief executive Mooky Greidinger said: "This is not a decision we made lightly, and we did everything in our power to support safe and sustainable re-openings in all of our markets – including meeting, and often exceeding, local health and safety guidelines in our theatres and working constructively with regulators and industry bodies to restore public confidence in our industry.

"We are especially grateful for and proud of the hard work our employees put in to adapt our theatres to the new protocols and cannot underscore enough how difficult this decision was. Cineworld will continue to monitor the situation closely and will communicate any future plans to resume operations in these markets at the appropriate time, when key markets have more concrete guidance on their reopening status and, in turn, studios are able to bring their pipeline of major releases back to the big screen."

Shares in Cineworld dropped by 57 per cent as markets opened on Monday after it confirmed plans to close all of its theatres in the UK and the US temporarily.

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey insisted there has been 'a lot of support' for companies, after Cineworld confirmed plans to temporarily shutter its theatres in the UK.

Asked if the Government will help the chain, she told Sky News: "One of the things Cineworld has cited is that cinemagoers want to be able to see new films coming through, as opposed to just seeing films of the past, and that's something which the whole industry can work together to deploy.

"Cineworld will have been supported throughout the year through the furlough scheme, through other ways the Government has been supporting businesses. Conscious that aspects of the main furlough scheme are coming to an end, but there is a successor scheme there.

"Cineworld ... we cannot make every economic decision for companies, it's up to them to make that choice, but I do think, frankly, there has been a lot of support in order to try and keep people in jobs, and I know that businesses recognise that."

Cineworld is the UK's biggest cinema operator. The delay of the new James Bond film until April was said to be the 'final straw'.