The outage at Filmstaden means that only people who have already bought a ticket can go to the cinema on Saturday.

Normally, cinemagoers are not allowed to bring their own drinks or snacks, but this rule has been waived because of the current situation.

The problems, which are affecting the whole country, also include Svenska Bio’s cinemas, but customers there can pay by Sweden’s mobile payment system, Swish. 

“Looking at alternatives”

According to Swedish daily Aftonbladet , the cause is a ransomware attack against Tietoevry, but it remains unclear how long it will take to get systems up and running again.

“We have not received any more clarity on how long it may take,” said Eklund on Saturday afternoon.

Eklund said the chain were “looking at alternatives”, but that it was “very difficult” to see what these might be as Filmstaden is dependent on the system that crashed.

“We do not have cash options, for example. But we are looking into all the possibilities if it were to drag on, which we really hope it doesn’t.

The company said they hadn’t yet looked at the financial consequences of this.

“Our focus is on those who want to visit the cinema but can’t and on taking care of everyone who has a ticket. But it’s clear, on the weekends there are tens of thousands of cinemagoers. It’s hard to say right now [what the financial impact might be], but it’s clear that it’s having a huge impact,” Eklund said.

Online shopping affected too

Cinema chains aren’t the only businesses affected either. 

More of Tietoevry’s customers are affected, including Swedish discount chain Rusta and Swedish gardening chain Granngården.

For Rusta, this means the website is down and that online shopping is not currently possible.

“We are following the development and seeing how it goes for our operating supplier to get everything up and running again, Rusta spokesperson Cecilia Gärdestad said.

Granngården has closed all its shops because the checkout system is not working. However, customers can still shop online.

“Like Rusta and some other clients of Tietoevry, we are affected by the same problem. Together with Tietoevry, we are working to understand the extent [of the problem] and, of course, solve it,” sales manager Fredrik Björk told Aftonbladet.