Loews signed a lease to build a new Theatre in Monterey Park. I wonder now if its going to be an AMC design since construction hasnt started yet. This theatre would only close an older outdated AMC Montebello 10 about 5 miles away I would assume.
I would imagine Regal or Clearview would take over E-Walk. But here in Chicago, who’s gonna take over Webster Place and City North? I’d so it myself but my Theatre corp is in the planning stages.
In LA AMC got rid of most of its GCC acquisitions pretty quickly:
Glendale Cinemas
Sherman Oaks 1 & 2
Sherman Oaks 3-7
Hollywood Galaxy
Beverly Connection
They kept the Avco in Westwood and Redondo Beach Galleria
In Seattle Area they closed Everett Mall 1-3, and 4-10
They kept the Renton Village, Cinerama, and Pacific Place 11
Ironically, they closed their only last remaining AMC build in the Seattle area, Seatac North 6, soon after acquiring GCC, thus making all the theatres listed in the AMC ads in Seattle papers as ex-GCC.
This makes me wonder what AMC really gained out of acquiring GCC?
Is your local Loew’s Theatre closing earlier than usual this Thursday, January 27?
On CinemaTour.com’s forum, someone noticed an LA Times ad in which the Beverly Center Cineplex has no Thursday evening shows listed — only matinees. Loew’s website confirms this. It also shows the Fresh Pond in Cambridge with no shows starting after 7:45 this Thursday night.
Anyone care to speculate on the significance of this? These two are not on the list of locations that Loew’s is legally required to divest. I checked those five too, and none of them are closing early this Thursday.
When Loews merged with Cineplex Odeon in 1998, a bunch of theaters were closed in the Chicago area between 1999-2001. They were minor closings between 2002 and now. Besides the prior meger was Babalan & Katz, Essaness, Plitt, M&R, Cineplex Odeon, and Loews-Cineplex, AMC has also bought out General Cinema theaters in 2002. Some of the Loews-Cineplex theaters were bought by the defunct Meridian Theaters and Village Theaters which proved even worse. Theaters bought out by Meridian at one point failed to pay the city (of Chicago) taxes, with the exception of the Old Orchard Theater in Skokie. Hopefully AMC will do better. They did not close any of the former General Cinema theaters and hopefully will do the same to Loews theaters.
I agree with Paul. Any Loews Cineplex that I have been to on the west coast could seem to only benefit under AMC management. AMC has some first-rate locations with recent builds. I am not a big fan of their older theaters, but even those are well maintained. I have never seen a plastic bag over a broken seat at an AMC theater…
I’m assuming that pretty much everybody here sees the merger as kind of a dark cloud descending over the movie-theatre scene, as a rather faceless large corporation becomes even larger, further reducing competition, obliterating a long-revered logo (Loews), etc. Anybody see a bright side? For instance, is there a possibility of AMC moving to spruce up some of the locations that have started to hit the skids under Loews Cineplex ownership? Or is it more likely that they’ll just shed the underperforming (or still-performing despite shoddy upkeep) sites, in addition to the ones they’re already selling off to stay in the Justice Department’s good graces?
Beverly Center was Cineplex’s first entry into the US market, in the early 1980s. This was before Cineplex merged with Odeon. It is not actually in the City of Beverly Hills, but just outside it in LA.
I had at least one friend who refused to go to this place because the theatres were so small.
[To add a couple more, there are a few AMC sites in the Philly area that started out in life as Budco theatres in the ‘70s or '80s. AMC has a pretty good presence in the New Orleans area thanks to the acquisition of a local chain there a couple years ago, although some of the theatres have not yet reopened in the aftermath of Katrina.
Cineplex Odeon, pre Loews Cineplex, would have included Cineplex builds (e.g., the Universal Citywalk in L.A. and Wisconsin Avenue in DC) along with some older RKO and Century (no relation to the West Coast Century chain, AFAIK) sites. Some of those have closed or been sold off.
Speaking of GCC, anybody know if they made any acquisitions that were later absorbed as part of the AMC takeover?]
All’s that’s left of AMC’s merger with the Budco chain is: AMc (Budco) 309 Cinema 9 Theatre and AMC (Goldman’s) Orleans 8 Theatre. Cineplex Odeon’s was in Philadelphia many years ago when they were known as RKO Century Warner, RKO Stanley Warner, Stanley Warner, and The Stanley Company Of America.
The Century Theatres chain that was based in NYC that acquired RKO Stanley Warner has no relations with the curent Century Theatres chain on the west coast.
Interesting comment above about AMC not playing indies and foreign films. What will become of the Uptown triplex in Seattle that Loews has been running as an art house? Here’s hoping Landmark takes over operations…
I am really dreading this merger. This will leave only one major chain operating within the city limits of Chicago. I really wonder what will happen to some of my favorite theatres (I live in Downtown) including the 600 North (too close to River East 21, the Esquire (because AMC doesn’t show indies and foreign films), the Piper’s Alley (ditto), and the City North 14 and the Webster Place (both in proximity to each other and on the divestiture list).
Note the many chains that were predecessors to Loews'-AMC. All were once major players in the Chicagoland Area: Balaban & Katz, Plitt, Essaness, M&R. All were predecessors of Cineplex-Odeon or Sony-Loews prior to that merger.
I read in one of the SEC reports that Loews Cineplex sold off its Canadian holdings in preparation for the merger. The current Loews website lists no Canadian locations.
The only Sack Theatre to survive into the current Loews-AMC merger is the 12-screen Assembly Square Cinema in Somerville, Mass, which opened in 1981. It’s way below modern megaplex standards, and is the kind of place that AMC will be embarrassed to put their logo on.
After Sack turned into USACinemas, they also bought the Harvard Square, a 1920s single-screener that over time has been gracelessly chopped up into five screens. This isn’t really AMC’s kind of place either, but it too will be theirs soon.
No other former Sack or USACinema theatre is still part of Loews today. Most have been closed.
Loews signed a lease to build a new Theatre in Monterey Park. I wonder now if its going to be an AMC design since construction hasnt started yet. This theatre would only close an older outdated AMC Montebello 10 about 5 miles away I would assume.
I would imagine Regal or Clearview would take over E-Walk. But here in Chicago, who’s gonna take over Webster Place and City North? I’d so it myself but my Theatre corp is in the planning stages.
The Big Question: Who gets Loews E-Walk – which is right across the street from AMC Empire 25 in the Times Square area?
In LA AMC got rid of most of its GCC acquisitions pretty quickly:
Glendale Cinemas
Sherman Oaks 1 & 2
Sherman Oaks 3-7
Hollywood Galaxy
Beverly Connection
They kept the Avco in Westwood and Redondo Beach Galleria
In Seattle Area they closed Everett Mall 1-3, and 4-10
They kept the Renton Village, Cinerama, and Pacific Place 11
Ironically, they closed their only last remaining AMC build in the Seattle area, Seatac North 6, soon after acquiring GCC, thus making all the theatres listed in the AMC ads in Seattle papers as ex-GCC.
This makes me wonder what AMC really gained out of acquiring GCC?
AMC didn’t close any GC theaters outright but it did close a few that were a bit out of date including the Leigh Valley Mall 1-8 in Allentown, PA.
oops, the above should read “Thursday, January 26”
Is your local Loew’s Theatre closing earlier than usual this Thursday, January 27?
On CinemaTour.com’s forum, someone noticed an LA Times ad in which the Beverly Center Cineplex has no Thursday evening shows listed — only matinees. Loew’s website confirms this. It also shows the Fresh Pond in Cambridge with no shows starting after 7:45 this Thursday night.
Anyone care to speculate on the significance of this? These two are not on the list of locations that Loew’s is legally required to divest. I checked those five too, and none of them are closing early this Thursday.
I don’t think AMC has closed any former GCC theatres in the Boston area.
Loews, however, has closed almost everything that Sack Theatres ever built or bought.
When Loews merged with Cineplex Odeon in 1998, a bunch of theaters were closed in the Chicago area between 1999-2001. They were minor closings between 2002 and now. Besides the prior meger was Babalan & Katz, Essaness, Plitt, M&R, Cineplex Odeon, and Loews-Cineplex, AMC has also bought out General Cinema theaters in 2002. Some of the Loews-Cineplex theaters were bought by the defunct Meridian Theaters and Village Theaters which proved even worse. Theaters bought out by Meridian at one point failed to pay the city (of Chicago) taxes, with the exception of the Old Orchard Theater in Skokie. Hopefully AMC will do better. They did not close any of the former General Cinema theaters and hopefully will do the same to Loews theaters.
We’re going to have to rename a lot of theatres here at CinemaTreasures once the merger closing date arrives …
I agree with Paul. Any Loews Cineplex that I have been to on the west coast could seem to only benefit under AMC management. AMC has some first-rate locations with recent builds. I am not a big fan of their older theaters, but even those are well maintained. I have never seen a plastic bag over a broken seat at an AMC theater…
I’m assuming that pretty much everybody here sees the merger as kind of a dark cloud descending over the movie-theatre scene, as a rather faceless large corporation becomes even larger, further reducing competition, obliterating a long-revered logo (Loews), etc. Anybody see a bright side? For instance, is there a possibility of AMC moving to spruce up some of the locations that have started to hit the skids under Loews Cineplex ownership? Or is it more likely that they’ll just shed the underperforming (or still-performing despite shoddy upkeep) sites, in addition to the ones they’re already selling off to stay in the Justice Department’s good graces?
In Chicago, add ‘ABC-Great States’ to the list of chains that have fed into this merger.
Check out the screen size at the Beverly Center in relation to the exit door here:
http://www.cinematour.com/tour.php?db=us&id=2114
The are bigger home screening rooms….
Beverly Center was Cineplex’s first entry into the US market, in the early 1980s. This was before Cineplex merged with Odeon. It is not actually in the City of Beverly Hills, but just outside it in LA.
I had at least one friend who refused to go to this place because the theatres were so small.
[To add a couple more, there are a few AMC sites in the Philly area that started out in life as Budco theatres in the ‘70s or '80s. AMC has a pretty good presence in the New Orleans area thanks to the acquisition of a local chain there a couple years ago, although some of the theatres have not yet reopened in the aftermath of Katrina.
Cineplex Odeon, pre Loews Cineplex, would have included Cineplex builds (e.g., the Universal Citywalk in L.A. and Wisconsin Avenue in DC) along with some older RKO and Century (no relation to the West Coast Century chain, AFAIK) sites. Some of those have closed or been sold off.
Speaking of GCC, anybody know if they made any acquisitions that were later absorbed as part of the AMC takeover?]
All’s that’s left of AMC’s merger with the Budco chain is: AMc (Budco) 309 Cinema 9 Theatre and AMC (Goldman’s) Orleans 8 Theatre. Cineplex Odeon’s was in Philadelphia many years ago when they were known as RKO Century Warner, RKO Stanley Warner, Stanley Warner, and The Stanley Company Of America.
The Century Theatres chain that was based in NYC that acquired RKO Stanley Warner has no relations with the curent Century Theatres chain on the west coast.
The Fine Arts and the Beverly Connection, right? Too bad the Beverly Connection was shuttered instead of the Beverly Center.
Mark – I can see AMC Continuing operation at the Beverly Center, even though they already exited Beverly Hills not once, but twice.
Interesting comment above about AMC not playing indies and foreign films. What will become of the Uptown triplex in Seattle that Loews has been running as an art house? Here’s hoping Landmark takes over operations…
I am really dreading this merger. This will leave only one major chain operating within the city limits of Chicago. I really wonder what will happen to some of my favorite theatres (I live in Downtown) including the 600 North (too close to River East 21, the Esquire (because AMC doesn’t show indies and foreign films), the Piper’s Alley (ditto), and the City North 14 and the Webster Place (both in proximity to each other and on the divestiture list).
Note the many chains that were predecessors to Loews'-AMC. All were once major players in the Chicagoland Area: Balaban & Katz, Plitt, Essaness, M&R. All were predecessors of Cineplex-Odeon or Sony-Loews prior to that merger.
Maybe I’ll just go to the Three Penny Cinema.
AMC now has theatres in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, and presumably will still have them after this merger.
Does anyone think AMC will stamp their badge on the Beverly Center 13?
I read in one of the SEC reports that Loews Cineplex sold off its Canadian holdings in preparation for the merger. The current Loews website lists no Canadian locations.
BTW, does the AMC/Loews merger include Canadian theatres? If so, there must be a few chains north of the border that will be encompassed.
The only Sack Theatre to survive into the current Loews-AMC merger is the 12-screen Assembly Square Cinema in Somerville, Mass, which opened in 1981. It’s way below modern megaplex standards, and is the kind of place that AMC will be embarrassed to put their logo on.
After Sack turned into USACinemas, they also bought the Harvard Square, a 1920s single-screener that over time has been gracelessly chopped up into five screens. This isn’t really AMC’s kind of place either, but it too will be theirs soon.
No other former Sack or USACinema theatre is still part of Loews today. Most have been closed.