Regal Cinemas plans on reopening: What movies are they opening with?
Exciting news for moviegoers: Regal Cinemas is reopening after being closed to the public for the past six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their parent company, Cineworld Group, released a statement today that they would reopen their sites in April. So what movies are they making their comeback with?
The grand reopening
Regal Cinemas is coming back with a bang. Cineworld group announced that not only are they opening their U.S. sites, which include 7,076 screens in 536 theaters across the country, but that they have also struck a deal with Warner Bros. to release films forty-five days before they debut on the streaming platform.
And Regal isn’t stopping with the U.S. Cineworld also announced its plan to reopen Regal Cinemas’s UK locations in May. In the UK, Warner Bros. films will debut thirty-one days before they’re available to stream.
Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld, discussed the new partnership in a statement. “We are very happy for the agreement with Warner Bros. This agreement shows the studio’s commitment to the theatrical business and we see this agreement as an important milestone in our 100-year relationship with Warner Bros.”
Regarding the reopening plans, WarnerMedia Chair and CEO Ann Sarnoff announced in a statement: “We’re living in unprecedented times which call for creative solutions, including this new initiative for the Warner Bros. Pictures Group.”
“No one wants films back on the big screen more than we do”, she continued. “We know new content is the lifeblood of theatrical exhibition, but we have to balance this with the reality that most theaters in the U.S. will likely operate at reduced capacity throughout 2021.”
Godzilla vs. Kong
Regal Cinemas stated it plans to open theaters with Godzilla vs. Kong on April 2nd. The film is a sequel to Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, and is directed by Adam Wingard. The film stars Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, and Demián Bichir.
The project was first announced in 2015 by Legendary. In 2017, the writers room started work on the script, and in 2018, filming took place in Hawaii, Australia, and Hong Kong. The movie was slated to be released in November 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. Now, it is finally getting its day in theaters, with a simultaneous release on HBO Max.
What is Godzilla vs. Kong about?
Legendary & Warner Bros. described the premise: “Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors take a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has forged a unique and powerful bond.”
The synopsis continues: “But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans – instigated by unseen forces – is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth.”
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat is Regal Cinemas’s next big movie release after Godzilla vs. Kong. The movie, which is slated to be released on April 16th, is a martial arts action flick by first-time feature director Simon McQuoid, written by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham from the original story by Oren Uziel and Russo. The story was adapted from a video game franchise by Ed Boon and John Tobias.
The film stars Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Megcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Chin Han, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada.
This isn’t the first Mortal Kombat film adaptation. In 1997, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was famously panned by critics and did poorly in the box office. Following this reception, Warner Bros. bought the franchise from Midway Games. McQuoid was announced as the director in November 2016, and the movie was filmed in Adelaide Studios in Adelaide, South Australia, in December 2019.
The film follows a retired MMA fighter who discovers his lineage when he is hunted by a clan of assassins. He subsequently joins a group of fighters who help him fight against these evil forces.
