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Loews/AMC Merger Now Official
posted by
hdtv267
on
January 30, 2006 at 4:39 am
When you go to http://www.enjoytheshow.com now, it takes you to a combined Loews/AMC website.
The former Loews theatres, in particular the ones in Manhattan that I checked, are listed as being AMC but aren’t showing up yet in the listings. This was at 9:35am Eastern time Friday 1/27/06. So it must be a matter of time until they get loaded in there. Will check back later in the day.
Any word on if signage changed at the theaters themselves?
Comments (19)
I hope they don’t close the Tower East.
They will have to come up with a new jingle.
Thank you for coming to AMC, sit back and relax, and enjoy the show!
This just doesn’t have the same punch.
In the Boston Globe, the five Loews Cineplex theatres are still advertised as Loews Cineplex theatres. How about in other cities?
These eight theatres, formerly on Loews' EnjoyTheShow.com website, are not on AMC’s.
North Riverside, IL — never closed; now operated by Village Theatres
Fresh Pond, Cambridge MA — closed, but may soon reopen as an Entertainment Cinema
Beverly Center Cineplex, Los Angeles — closed, allegedly to later reopen as a Mann theatre
Loews State 4, NYC
River Oaks 1-6, Calumet City, IL
River Oaks 9-10, Calumet City, IL — demolition may have already started?
Rockville Centre, NY — appears to have closed a week or more before the merger
Route 17 Triplex, Paramus, — appears to have closed two weeks before the merger
Two of these eight (Beverly Center and Loews State 4) are in the Cinema Treasures bok.
I went to the Loew’s Boston Common tonight and it still has the giant “Loews Theatre” sign out front. Also, the ticket stub still has “Loews Boston Common” printed on it.
Ron,
The Philadelphia Inquirer still lists the Loews Cherry Hill 24 in the movie clock.
As AMC announced that all theaters will be renamed?
As to signage, don’t expect instant sign changes at this many theaters! If they are going to change the names to AMC, that will take time.
It took a few weeks after the GCC merger to get everything rolling. I would say if not this weekend, next weekend.
I haven’t reviewed the numbers, but I think there are way more Loews theaters than there were GCC theaters. This will take some time, both with newspaper ads (which can go faster) and with theater signage. assuming AMC intends to rebrand the theaters.
I also hope the Tower East survives. Clearview tookover what they now call the Beekman One and Two, so perhaps they would operate the nearby Tower East. I’m also interested in seeing the Uptown in Washington D.C. continue with movies.
Today’s New York Post has an article about the closing of Loews State, quoting Ross Melnick of … “movietreasures.com”. Oops.
From the article:
[Melanie Bell, a spokeswoman for AMC] said the venerable Loews name would gradually be phased out in favor of AMC, “though in some cases there may be an opportunity for the Loews brand to remain. It’s an evolving process that takes place over time.”
At the New York Post film times site, a couple of the Loews theaters do not list times and say, Call theater for schedule. The Loews 72nd Street East is one of them.
I called 34th Street and an employee answered and gave me a number for the 72nd Street East. No answer and no recording. I called Loews E-Walk and an employee answered and gave me a different number for the 72nd Street East, which was busy when I called. I called the Lincoln Square Loews and was given a number one digit off from the first, which was also busy.
The last guy said the merger is not official until Friday.
Sure wish I saw Munich at the Loews 72nd Street East rather than the E-Walk… When I endured House of Wax the manager told me it was going to stay open for a long time…
AMC’s web site lists the 72nd Street and links to Fandango.com which has movie times listed for the next nine days. That’s surely more reliable information than the NY Post’s website.
Shade, the AMC-Loews merger became official on 1/27/06. I work for AMC Theatres. The showtimes from this past week were all done by Loews Cineplex, before officially becoming AMC. The showtimes for this week (2/3) are the first showtimes that the former Loews theatres did as AMC Theatres.
Today the Calendar section of the LA Times has the new AMC-Loews combined ad.
All the Loews are listed as AMC Loews and AMC Magic Johnson.
In the Boston Globe movie calendar ads, all five of the Loews theatres that became part of the merger now have AMC logos on them. However, the names of the theatres have had Loews added to them too. So the ads now look like:
[AMC logo]
LOEWS BOSTON COMMON 19
In the display ads for individual movies, these theatres are listed as
[small type]AMC LOEWS
[large type]BOSTON COMMON 19
In the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, the Theatre Listings still has the AMC Cherry Hills 24 listed as “Loews Cherry Hill 24”, but the display ads for the individual films list it as:
[Small Type]“AMC Loews"
[Large Type]"Cherry Hill 24”.
I feel like I’ve been on the Moon. I didn’t even know about this until today.
At first, as a former Loew’s employee (many years ago), I was a little sad. After thinking it over for only a few minutes I’m happy to see the Loews name go. It hasn’t really been Loews for years and the mystic cloud of a holding company that owned Loews just turned the theatres into a bunch of mutiplex shoe boxes anyway.
It doesn’t matter what chain you go to—whatever made going to the movies special is gone.
The days are numbered for movie theatres. Bring on the DVD’s and pay-per-view.
Hopefully, some theatres will remain and perhaps show older and independent movies along with some Hollywood mainstreamers for those of us that would like to experience ‘going to the movies’ again.
BTW, getting older stinks.
dhroc,boy you hit it on the nail.there is nothing special about going to the movies.Look at the crowds today,most of them a bunch of clowns.It was starting to fade out a bit when I was in the business,but I can remember on certain adult type films,and I Do not mean X-rated,folks would come dressed as if going to church,now they dress the same way at the 20 Plex as they do sadly, at church.Good comment,dhroc.
Mergers with Loews have gone way back,Loews United Artists, Loews Poli,Loews Publix, and Loews and Fox were going to merge at one time but the Government would not let them,Sorry to see the Loews name slowly go away,but thats the way of the world.
Yes,you are right a lot of theatre history in the name Loews.