AMC Continues Growth Tear With New Theater Acquisitions
As movie theaters continue to recover from the pandemic, AMC Theatres is building up its ranks, adding seven movie theater properties purchased from Bow Tie Cinemas, a family-owned national theater chain that dates back to 1900.
The newly acquired Bow Tie Theaters locations in Connecticut, upstate New York and Annapolis, Maryland, are either open now under the AMC banner or will open by the end of this month, AMC announced. The move more than doubles AMC’s presence in Connecticut.
The acquisitions join seven other new additions to the AMC portfolio in LA, San Diego, Washington, D.C, and Chicago, all of which are open now.
Some of those were instances of AMC negotiating leases at ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres locations, which closed in 2021. The company took over multiplexes at the Northridge Fashion Center, the Grove and the Americana at Brand in the LA area as well as an Arclight in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.
AMC, the nation’s largest movie theater operator, said in its announcement of the news that it is in active discussions with other owners about adding even more locations. The company said it was planning to scoop up more properties last summer, when it announced a deal to sell roughly $231M in shares to Mudrick Capital in part to fund those plans.
Cinemark and Regal, other top movie theater chains, are reportedly shopping around for opportunities but not snapping up properties quite like AMC. Theater consolidation has a strong appeal now, The Wall Street Journal has reported. More screens could mean more power to bargain with studios as theaters continue to compete with streaming services. Operators that shuttered in the pandemic are now opportunities for big players to purchase more screens. And strong box-office returns for big-ticket films offer hope for the industry.
“Our theatre acquisition strategy makes AMC a better and stronger company as we move forward on our glidepath to recovery,” AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron said in a statement about the Bow Tie deal to entertainment industry publication Deadline.
