CINEWORLD is preparing to shut down its 128 movie theatres across the country in the coming weeks, putting up to 5,500 jobs at risk.

Staff at Britain’s biggest cinema chain say they first learned of the decision through a report in yesterday’s Sunday Times.

Cineworld bosses wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden this weekend to say that delays to blockbuster releases have rendered the industry unviable.