By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Ster-Kinekor to lay off almost a third of its 728 employees (236 people, or 32% of the workforce) amid plans to close up to nine of its cinemas in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape.
The cinema chain has stated that it needs to undergo restructuring due to factors such as a challenging economic environment, load-shedding, financial constraints, and the impact of the Hollywood strikes which saw many movie releases have been moved to 2025.
“As these are forces largely out of the business’s control and the financial impact is likely to endure for some time, Ster-Kinekor Theatres has had to review its cost structure to ensure the continued survival and sustainability of its business,” the company said.
The company says attendance at its theatres showed a huge decline.
Ster-Kinekor served staff with a section 189(3) notice back in February 2024, beginning the retrenchment process of its employees.
The company said that “Ster-Kinekor Theatres issued a notice to all staff informing them of the company’s intention to proceed with a restructure under Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act, and to begin the consultation process.”
Affected positions include those in the CEO’s office, marketing, sales, human capital, business operations, content, finance, head office, regional operations, and information technology.
Ster-Kinekor said the “cinemas will be closed at gradual intervals, conditional on lease negotiation agreements”.
The company also announced a review of eight more cinemas—Secunda, Wonderpark, Bedfordview, Cradlestone, Mooi River, N1 City, Rosebank Nouveau, and Rustenburg—for potential closure. This could lead to the loss of 69 jobs.
Although the company was profitable before the pandemic, despite competition from streaming services, cinema closures, seating limitations and curfews led to significant financial losses.
Additionally, video streaming services Netflix, Amazon and Disney have invested in direct-to-streaming blockbuster originals, with monthly subscriptions available at a fraction of the price of a movie ticket.
Despite the rescheduling of releases last year and in 2024, two titles released in 2023 provided a significant boost for Ster-Kinekor.
Barbie and Oppenheimer were both released in July 2023. In September 2023, Ster-Kinekor chief marketing officer Lynne Wiley said that Barbie was the top title of the year so far.
“Both Barbie and Oppenheimer have performed extremely well on the Ster-Kinekor circuit,” said Wiley.
“Barbie’s cinema attendance is No 1 for the 2023 calendar year to date and has ranked in position 20 in the Southern Africa All Time Top 100 list for Box Office as of August 2023.”
Oppenheimer ranked eighth in attendance for the Ster-Kinekor Circuit Three calendar year at the time.