Regal Cinemas, the second-largest movie theater chain is the U.S., is once again closing all of its locations nationwide, parent company Cineworld has announced.

The company's 536 U.S. locations will suspend operations on Thursday. The closure will affect about 40,000 employees in the U.S.

“This is not a decision we made lightly, and we did everything in our power to support a safe and sustainable reopening in the U.S.—from putting in place robust health and safety measures at our theaters to joining our industry in making a collective commitment to the CinemaSafe protocols to reaching out to state and local officials to educate them on these initiatives,” Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger said in a statement. “We are especially grateful for and proud of the hard work our employees put in to adapt our theaters to the new protocols and cannot underscore enough how difficult this decision was.”

The decision comes as big-budget films, most recently the James Bond film "No Time to Die," get delayed to 2021, leaving the chain with few movies to offer moviegoers this fall.

After being closed for about four months, Regal began reopening its theaters in August with new safety protocols in place. But in addition to major releases being delayed, movie audiences have also been slow to return. The company also hasn't been able to reopen its theaters in major markets such as New York. 

Regal didn’t provided a possible reopening date for its movie theaters but said the company would be “monitoring the situation closely.”