Your local Regal theater could be saved, as the company looks for a buyer amid bankruptcy

• Cineworld is looking to sell its remaining US-based Regal locations, it said in a filing this week.
• The company has reached out to 30 potential buyers, including many competitors.

If you're worried about your local Regal theater closing, there might be hope.

Cineworld, the owner of Regal Cinemas, said in a court filing on Monday that it has launched a process to "locate a strategic or financial buyer of their assets." Those assets include US-based Regal theater locations.

Regal is the second-largest cinema chain in the US, behind AMC Theatres, with over 500 locations. Cineworld said in the filing that it has reached out to 30 potential buyers, including "many" of its competitors.

The move comes after Cineworld filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September as the theatrical industry struggles to rebound to pre-pandemic levels. The North American box office hit $7.4 billion in 2022, according to Comscore, down from over $11 billion in 2018 and 2019.

Cineworld said in another filing last week that it planned to reject the leases of 39 Regal locations in the US starting February 15, on top of a dozen it had already closed. The company said in the filing that the plan would help it save $22 million a year. Cineworld said initial, non-binding bids from potential buyers are due by February 16, so it's likely that those 39 locations would already be closed before a sale.

A lawyer for Cineworld told Insider that any already-closed Regal locations would not be part of the potential sale, and that it is possible Cineworld could reject even more leases during the process of finding a buyer.