United Cinemas Canal City 13

AMC Entertainment International (AMCEI) established a Japanese branch in May 1995. While other companies that entered the Japanese market sought to form alliances with Japanese capital, AMC proceeded with direct operations, and on April 20, 1996, AMC Canal City 13, Japan’s first roadshow multiplex, opened its doors to the public, featuring 13 screens and 2,076 seats.

Having had success with megaplexes, the AMC Canal City 13 also installed 13 screens at its first Japanese site. That same year, the company set a goal of 300 screens in five years and 1,000 screens in ten years, and it was thought that the proposed locations would be centered around urban cinema complexes. However, it was later decided that the company would also open theaters in shopping centers in regional cities. This fell short of the initial target but did open an additional four more theaters in Japan, including one near Tokyo Disneyland.

Although Japanese exhibitors criticized the unconventional number of screens, and AMC’s methods led to fears of a black ship. There were concerns that Japanese films would not be distributed, but in fact they were, and in 1997, the second year after the opening, the theater attracted more than 1.5 million moviegoers. Due to intensifying competition in the United States, AMC began to curtail its investments abroad after the death of the 20th Century and focus on domestic investments. Since it had no affiliation with domestic capital, plans to open other locations in Kitakyushu, Oita, and Nagaoka were withdrawn, and no new theaters were opened after the AMC Ikspiari 16 in Chiba. In 2005, the Japanese market was deemed to be inefficient for investment, and the company began to withdraw. On July 1 of that same year, four of AMC’s five Japanese sites (including the Canal City 13) were sold to United Cinemas for 5 billion yen and the AMC Canal City 13 became the United Cinemas Canal City 13. All of its employees of the four sites and several head office staff were also taken over by United Cinemas.

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