It takes a monumental event to alter the pace of change. With the advent of streaming services and improvements in home viewing equipment, cinema business in the UK was on slightly rocky ground even before COVID-19. Odeon, Cineworld, and Vue managed to weather the full lockdown earlier in the year, but the much needed return to normal business hasn't materialised, and this week UK cinema's big hope for 2020 walked away to.

It was expected that one of the biggest films of the year would be Daniel Craig's last Bond instalment No Time To Die (2020). Despite its bland trailer, anticipation for the film was still high. Full lockdown saw its release date moved from April to October 2020, and as Autumn arrived cinema chains were hopeful that Bond would come to the rescue and start pulling in much needed punters, even with social distancing still in place. < ... Read more »