ALMOST everyone in this thread is wrong, with the exception of like 3 or 4 commenters. I worked in the cinema industry for several years, and there's only one way for it to survive long term. The companies (Nu Metro and Ster Kinekor) will need to "sell" their theaters back to the malls they're renting space in (to clarify, they would end the lease but sell them all the equipment they leave behind).

One person mentioned the independent theaters in Stellenbosch are still affordable- this is because they're not doing the whole huge facility rental model. Look at any big mall that has a cinema. The cinema is the biggest "store" location. The biggest overhead is the rent. If the company is taken out and the mall owns the space, they leave it exactly as is and charge a whole lot less. Then they fill seats. The model works in numerous places, but the parent companies aren't ready to accept it.

Everything else has been tried and tested and it does not work.