Just weeks after some movie theaters began to reopen in Colorado, the nation’s second-largest movie theater chain announced it will be temporarily closing its doors — affecting 11 theaters in the state.

Cineworld Group Plc is temporarily closing all of its 536 Regal Cinemas in the U.S. effective Thursday due to a lack of blockbusters on the calendar.

The closings include the Regal theater complexes in Denver, including the downtown Denver Pavilions, the Colorado Center on South Colorado Boulevard near Interstate 25 and the Regal Continental on South Monaco Parkway

“This is not a decision we made lightly,″ said Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger.

The 2020 film calendar had been decimated by premiere delays as a result of COVID-19.

Some movies like “Death on the Nile” and “Wonder Woman 1984” pushed release dates to late December, while most abandoned the year completely.

Marvel’s “Black Widow,” Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” and Universal’s “Candyman” were all pushed to 2021 in recent weeks. Friday’s announcement that “No Time To Die” was being delayed to 2021 came as a final blow to Cineworld.

Greidinger said Cineworld can’t give customers “the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theaters against the backdrop of COVID-19.”

Other Colorado closures include the Regal Canyon View in Grand Junction, Regal River Point in Sheridan, Regal Village in Longmont, Regal Cinebarre in Louisville, Regal Interquest in Colorado Springs, Regal SouthGlenn in Centennial, Regal UA Colorado Mills in Lakewood and Regal UA Meadows in Littleton.

Movie theaters were closed in the state at the beginning of COVID-19 but many, like Cinemark and AMC Theaters, had begun to reopen in late August.

Regal Cinemas had reopened all 11 of its Colorado theaters by the beginning of September.

Cineworld is also closing 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse venues in the U.K., affecting approximately 45,000 employees.

Last week, groups representing theater owners, movie studios and directors issued a plea to U.S. lawmakers to provide relief to ailing movie theaters.

The letter said that if the status quo continues, nearly 70% of small to mid-size movie theaters could be forced to close permanently.

Now, Greidinger said all there is to do is wait.

He said the business needs a six- to eight-week blockbuster calendar to reopen. Greidinger hopes the calendar could be sorted before Christmas, in time for “Wonder Woman 1984.”

“I will be the happiest man to open the cinemas for ‘Wonder Woman,” Greidinger said. “But we will also need to look beyond ‘Wonder Woman’ to January and February.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.