THE UK's biggest cinema chain, which included a major complex at Basildon Festival Leisure Park, is set to announce it will be closing its UK venues, putting up to 5,500 jobs in Britain at risk, after the latest James Bond movie was delayed into next year.

Cineworld is understood to be preparing to announce plans to close all its 127 theatres in the UK as soon as Monday.

The premiere of the new 007 flick, No Time To Die, has been twice postponed, from April now to April 2021, in a big blow to the cinema industry.

Film studios are postponing blockbuster releases because audience numbers have been slow to recover since the Covid-19 outbreak. Other releases that have been pushed into 2021 include Disney's Black Widow and Steven Spielberg's West Side Story.

The company, the world's second-biggest cinema operator, has written to Boris Johnson and the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, this weekend to warn them that the industry has become "unviable".

Cineworld at Basildon reopened in July following the coronavirus lockdown, but the parent company flagged up doubts over its ability to survive a second lockdown in September when it reported a £1.3bn loss for the first half of the year.

Vue International, which operates the major complex at Lakeside, announced a few weeks ago that it is seeking a financial debt package to keep its screens alive but its medium to long term future is also in jeopardy and the virus continues to bite and film companies delay their big offerings.