Laemmle's Claremont 5

ridethectrain on August 2, 2024 at 11:29 am

Grand Opening ad in photos section

Nothing But Cinema on November 22, 2025 at 6:32 am

After more than five years of efforts to sell, this theater was just bought by a not-yet-disclosed theater operator. Laemmle will continue to operate the theater for the next 2 months or so.

ridethectrain on November 25, 2025 at 7:59 am

Regency Theatres is new owner of Claremont Laemmle 5
November 24th, 2025
by Mick Rhodes |

Regency Theatres, a private, family owned company with 28 locations in Southern California including in Azusa, Fontana, and Pasadena, as well as screens in Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii, will take ownership of the Laemmle Claremont 5 in late January.

“We hope that everybody will support the new operator so that Claremont can maintain, still continue to have its own movie theater,” said Laemmle Theatres President and CEO Greg Laemmle, who declined to disclose the purchase price.

Laemmle patrons must use their gift cards, premier cards, and frequent moviegoer tickets prior to the ownership change.

With the sale, the Laemmle chain of seven theaters will be reduced to six.

“We’ve had other locations where it’s still a challenge in part,” Laemmle said when asked if the company has seen downturns at other locations. “I will say, the older audience is not back and that has been our bread and butter.”

The loss of pre-pandemic levels of support at the Claremont theater following its March 2020 to April 2021 COVID-19-related closure, along with the siphoning off of customers to the new AMC in Montclair were primary reasons behind the decision to sell, Laemmle said. “I mean, there’s a significant percentage of the box office in the specific submarket around Claremont has moved to a new venue and that’s a factor,” Laemmle said. “The pandemic closure clearly was a major impact on moviegoing. And we’ve seen other theaters that have come back, whether ours or others in the industry that have come back, but more significantly, Claremont has not.”

Laemmle acknowledged the “creature comforts” of the nearby Montclair AMC — oversized reclining seats, an IMAX theater, and in theater food delivery — may have also been factors in the lack of traffic at the Claremont location.

“You know, we are dealing with a 17-year-old theater,” he said of the Claremont location. “I think we’re well maintained and I argue well programmed. That may be the case and maybe what the venue needs. If I’m taking myself and my ego out of the equation, it may just need a new refresh. And I think this is an opportunity, and Regency maybe has an opportunity to bring a new fresh set of eyes to this venue.”

Laemmle downplayed streaming services as a significant market factor driving the decision to close its Claremont theater.

“People are going to movies,” Laemmle said. “The numbers are down, but they are coming back to some approximation of pre-pandemic levels. We’re still not seeing as many wide releases in the marketplace. And … if there’s fewer films for people to earn revenue, you’re going to see lower box office. So, I don’t see that a factor.”

The company, founded by Greg Laemmle’s grandfather Max and his brother Kurt in 1938, began with one screen in Highland Park. Over the ensuing 87 years the chain has expanded and contracted. The era of streaming and massive multiplexes with reclining chairs represents only the latest changes to a marketplace he and his forebears have navigated for three generations.

“There’s a very strong echo of what happened in the late 40s and early 50s, when TV was introduced and had a major impact on moviegoing patterns,” Laemmle said. “My grandfather was operating six theaters in the post-World War II period and that was reduced over a few years to one location” in Los Feliz.

That arrangement began to change in 1964, when the chain began expanding once again.

“A new generation came along, started embracing movies, not just embracing movies, but embracing the kind of adult fare that we specialized in from the time that we added the Esquire Theater in Pasadena in 1964 until 2018 when we opened Glendale,” Laemmle said. “We were consistently looking at new locations and redeveloping different models for the chain. During those years, we were also closing theaters because that just happens. There’s always a natural ebb and flow. But as a company, we were definitely in a growth mode and I hope to get back to it.”

Laemmle was circumspect when asked how that might look going forward.

“I think about that. We’re halfway through … what was the prior recovery period,” he said. “I mean, look, I think moviegoing is still here. It’s here to stay. But what the model is for Laemmle Theatres in that environment is something we’re still trying to figure out.”

Laemmle Claremont 5 opened in 2007 — the same year Netflix began its streaming service — as part of the then new Village West expansion.

“It’s been a great,” Laemmle said. “It’s really been an honor and a pleasure doing business in the city of Claremont. And again, we hope that everybody will support the new operator so that Claremont can still continue to have its own movie theater. It’s important for the community to have that kind of gathering place.”

Laemmle released a statement about the sale on November 20, which is viewable at laemmle.freshdesk.com, search “Claremont sale.”