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Print AMC Entertainment, owner of the world’s largest cinema chain, appears to be closing in on key Los Angeles-area Pacific Theatres locations, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment. However, the fate of Pacific’s defunct sister chain, ArcLight Cinemas, including its flagship Hollywood theater and the historic Cinerama Dome, remains unclear. In an apparent snafu, two Pacific movie houses at Rick Caruso-owned shopping complexes — the Grove in Los Angeles and the Americana at Brand in Glendale — were prematurely listed Tuesday as AMC locations on the larger exhibitor’s app and ticketing website. The theaters were later removed from the site.
Print AMC Entertainment, owner of the world’s largest theater chain, is eyeing cinema locations previously operated by ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres. In a Tuesday filing, AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron said the company is “in discussions” with “multiple landlords” of locations previously operated by the popular Los Angeles-based circuits. The Leawood, Kan.-based company on Tuesday said it reached an agreement to raise $230.5 million in cash by selling equity to investment firm Mudrick Capital Management, exchanging 8.5 million shares at a price of approximately $27.12 per share. AMC said it would use the cash to acquire additional theater leases and improve existing locations. The deal differs from AMC’s multiple previous capital-raising efforts during the pandemic, which were intended to keep the company out of bankruptcy court as theaters suffered from closures, restrictions and a lack of new Hollywood movies.
Audiences are willing to pay up for premium seats. As vaccines roll out, restrictions lift and theaters reopen, audiences have been willing to pay more for an enhanced experience because — after a year stuck at home — "why do the ordinary?" More than a quarter of moviegoers returning to theaters for Godzilla vs. Kong have paid an upcharge of $3 to $5 to experience the monster spectacle in Imax and on other premium large-format screens, both in the U.S. and around the globe. That's well above the norm. The expanding appetite for an enhanced theatrical experience has given the film and exhibition business a shot of confidence and a weapon against streamers amid devastation caused by the pandemic. Yet it also means theaters that don't offer upscale sight and sound, plush seats and other amenities might struggle to lure customers.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/Shutterstock ArcLight’s owner, Decurion Corp., said the chain’s closure was “not the outcome anyone wanted, but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward.” Former staffers speak out about working at one of the last great jobs for a Hollywood newcomer: "Everybody viewed this chapter in their life as their Tarantino moment working in the video store." After finishing high school in Rhode Island in 2008, Joe Begos drove to Los Angeles, like so many before him, with the dream of making movies. Upon arriving, the first place that Begos raced to was the ArcLight cinema on Sunset Boulevard, where his filmmaking idol, David Cronenberg, was delivering a Q&A at the Cinerama Dome after a 35mm screening of his 1986 horror classic,
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'Godzilla vs. Kong' The fourth installment in Legendary's MonsterVerse has hit $80.5 million domestically and $309.7 million overseas. Godzilla vs. Kong has stomped past $390 million at the global box office to become the top-grossing Hollywood movie of the pandemic after besting the $365 million earned last fall by fellow Warner Bros.' release Tenet. And it had no trouble staying atop the weekend charts with $7.7 million domestically in its third outing to hit $80.5 million through Sunday. Overseas, it took in $12.2 million for a foreign total of $309.7 million and $390.2 million worldwide. China — where the box office has made a stunning comeback — rules the pandemic box office chart overall.