Horror Report

Tag: movie theaters

  • 2021 may not be much better for theaters

    2021 may not be much better for theaters

    Pennsylvania is the latest state to yet again close movie theaters in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.. The first question may asked was, where in the world are movie theater even still open at!?

    Regal has been shuddered for months.. AMC is constantly teetering as new flicks don’t come out and people don’t go to in door screenings..

    The situation is bleak and getting worse.

    The death of theaters could be taking place before our eyes..

    And now AMC warns that it only has enough cash in hand to get it through January 2021!

    Jill Goldsmith reports,

    In an SEC filing, the nation’s biggest exhibitor also announced cash injection of $100 million in a debt sale to Mudrick Capital Management, at an annual interest rate of 15%. Mudrick will exchange its notes for about 13.7 million AMC shares. The chain has sold stock recently as well. It said it’s negotiating with landlords, creditors and potential joint venture partners on ways to make it through the pandemic and is in discussions regarding potential financing alternatives for its international businesses.

    And more,

    AMC estimate that if its attendance levels do not significantly improve during the first half of 2021 (to achieve an overall level of approximately 20% of pre-COVID 2019 attendance levels) and again during the second half of 2021 (to achieve an overall level of approximately 85% of pre-COVID 2019 attendance levels), the believe the liquidity shortfall would be greater than the estimated $750 million minimum shortfall noted above, “which if not addressed would prevent us from continuing as a going concern.”

    Stocks increased this week for AMC on the news because it means someone could buy them. Money men know how to keep and share their money.

    THIS WAS GOING TO BE A BIG YEAR

    WONDER WOMAN 1984 and GHOSTBUSTERS were among so many movies slated to set records in 2020.. This was going to be a major year for Hollywood studios..

    Instead a virus not only destroyed the restaurant industry but also just about every form of entertainment in the United States.

    As of last month, 404 of AMC’s 594 U.S. theaters are open and operating at reduced capacity.

    Attendance has dropped 92% since this time last year…

    And with that attendance drop, closures, and restaurant industry collapse, the virus has continued to spread anyway..

    x x x

    DEVELOPING..

  • No Thanks to give: Theaters get walloped across North America!

    No Thanks to give: Theaters get walloped across North America!

    The COVID situation steadily increasing in seriousness, and Thanksgiving in full bloom.

    But there will be few movie theaters to watch anything in by the time the turkey is devoured by your family.

    646 movie theaters in the U.S. closed down again virtually overnight this past weekend amid an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases, according to Comscore. There were also 60 cinemas reclosures in Canada, meaning that in the span of several days, the North American box office lost 706 locations compared to a week ago..

    The holiday season is virtually over before it begins..

    What hope will future theaters have?

    Paul Dergarabedian of Comscore gave the Hollywood Reporter a rosy scenario:

    “Movie theaters over the decades have proven to be extraordinarily resilient and have survived every challenge from the pandemic of 1918, through the Great Depression to the introduction of TV through the home theater revolution and now the streaming boom,” says Dergarabedian. “COVID-19 has presented a modern-era challenge unlike no other and weathering this storm will be no easy task, but if history tells us anything it’s that the movie theater experience is an essential component of the entertainment ecosystem and thus will find a way to survive.”

  • Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., the nation’s two largest movie theater chains, have received formal inquiries from the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, signaling growing government scrutiny of a tactic large theater operators commonly use to keep movies out of competing locations.

    Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., the nation’s two largest movie theater chains, have received formal inquiries from the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, signaling growing government scrutiny of a tactic large theater operators commonly use to keep movies out of competing locations.

    Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., the nation’s two largest movie theater chains, have received formal inquiries from the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, signaling growing government scrutiny of a tactic large theater operators commonly use to keep movies out of competing locations.

    Is this really what Lynch’s Justice Department now has time for?

    Here is the basic: 

    That conduct includes the use of “clearances,” which are agreements that theater chains sometimes strike with studios in order to gain the exclusive right to play a given title in a particular market. The Justice Department is also looking into AMC’s participation into certain joint ventures, the notice said.

    Regal, AMC and Cinemark have said it is up to the studios to grant the requests, which are part of a long-established industry practice that affects a small percentage of locations.

    MORE..

    “We do not believe the Company has violated federal or state antitrust laws and are cooperating with the relevant governmental authorities,” AMC said in the notice. An AMC spokesman declined to comment further. AMC shares closed down 3.2%, or 91 cents, at $28 on Monday. Regal shares closed at $20.90, off six cents; it announced the notice after the market close. ..