After a decade in operation the Movietowne Chaguanas branch will be permanently closed.
Business magnate and Movietowne owner Derek Chin issued a statement informing that the decision stems from the Covid-19 pandemic as well as a "difficult landlord".
"I wish to inform you that we will be closing our Movietowne Chaguanas branch for good as the pandemic along with a difficult landlord has made it uneconomical for us to continue," he stated.
Chin cited the uncertainty surrounding Government's Covid-19 measures as also being a factor.
"The extended shut down and the continued uncertainty has made it extremely difficult to continue and in the interest of keeping our overall business in a survival mode we felt this was the best alternative for us," he stated.
Chin stated that Movietowne's other locations in Port of Spain and C3 San Fernando Tobago will remain open when the restrictions are relaxed.
"We wish to thank our many Central and Chaguanas patrons for the support over the last 10 years." he stated.
The deadly Covid-19 virus dealt a financial blow to the cinema world since it hit this country in March forcing all theatres to close.
Cinemas were reopened in June but that was short-lived as they were shut down again a few weeks later in August after the number of cases increased.
Cinemas globally are also closing their doors.
A report in the UK's Sunday Times last week stated that Regal Cinemas owner of Cineworld is closing all of the chain’s locations in the United States as well as its theaters in the United Kingdom.
Cineworld operates 128 venues in the U.K. and Ireland in addition to Regal’s 546 theaters in the U.S. consisting of 7,211 screens.
Regal is the second largest theatrical chain in the US after AMC, while Cineworld is the UK' s biggest cinema operator.
According to the report Cineworld reported a loss of a $1.6 billion (UK currency) in the first half of 2020 in recent days, with “no certainty” as to what impact the pandemic could have in the future.
A BBC report stated that over 5500 jobs are expected to be affected in the UK.
