WildAboutMovies: AMC Theaters Buys Loews Cineplex

AMC Buys Loews/Cineplex
AMC to Become Second Largest Theater Chain in USA
by Wild About Movies (6/26/05)

AMC

AMC Entertainment Inc., the No. 2 U.S. movie theater chain, on June 23rd, said it will buy its next-largest competitor, Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp., to challenge market leader Regal Entertainment Group. The U.S. movie theater sector has been a hot spot of acquisition activity over the past year-and-a-half, and AMC and Loews are no strangers to each others' businesses -- the two rivals held unsuccessful merger talks early last year. After that round of talks failed, private equity investors J.P. Morgan Partners and Apollo Management agreed to buy AMC for $1.67 billion last July. Terms of Tuesday's deal were not disclosed, but later that same month fellow private equity players Bain Capital, the Carlyle Group and Spectrum Equity Investors agreed to buy Loews Cineplex from another buyout investor for $1.5 billion. AMC's investor group will retain a 60 percent stake in the new company, which will keep the AMC Entertainment name, while the Loews investor group will own the remainder. The deal will consolidate AMC's already formidable presence in large, urban markets. AMC is known for its huge movie complexes -- nearly three-quarters of its screens are located in "megaplexes" that have 14 or more movie screens -- and a large number of its theaters are located in California, Florida and Texas. Most of Loews' theaters are in major metropolitan markets. The company lays claim to the biggest share of the market in New York City, Chicago, Detroit and Mexico City. Once the deal is completed, the new AMC Entertainment will have about 5,900 movie screens in 450 theaters and be run by AMC Chairman and Chief Executive President Peter Brown. AMC rival Regal Entertainment, which operates Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theatres and Edwards Theatres, has more than 6,200 screens in more than 550 locations and has theaters spread more broadly across suburban areas. The longest film industry box-office slump in 20 years cast a shadow over the deal, however. Movie ticket sales just posted their 17th straight weekend of year-on-year declines, and even big-budget films "Star Wars" and "Batman Begins" have been unable to stem the losses. AMC and Regal announced in March a plan to combine their on-screen advertising businesses into a company called National CineMedia, which will market and sell movie theater advertising and book theaters for non-movie events. AMC and Loews expected the deal to close within six to nine months. At the end of 2004, Loews had $1.75 billion of total assets and $1 billion in total debt, according to a filing with the SEC.

For the Loews website: www.enjoytheshow.com

For AMC: www.amctheatres.com

2008 Movies_2009 Movies

In The Spotlight!

"2008 Movies" & "2009 Movies" & "2010 Movies"
TODAY: Movie Poster & Website Premieres
Step Up 3 in 3D
By Tim Nasson
Publisher, Wild About Movies

Wild About Movies provides you with the most comprehensive movie posters, movie trailers, movie synopses, Behind The Scenes of movies, and celebrity interviews, and current, updated movie release date information - than any other movie website. At WAM you are able to peruse the movie trailers, movie posters and movie synopses of more than 500 movies not yet in theaters (and thousands of movies formerly in movie theaters and currently on DVD, including all "2009 DVDS" and "2009 BluRays"). The latest additions to the Wild About Movies database: The (delayed) Rob Marshall movie "Nine," The movie "Kick Ass" and two Paul Bettany movies "Creation" and "Legion." The - now - non Avatar entitled movie "The Last Airbender" and Dwayne Johnson in and as "The Tooth Fairy." Aging actors Mel Gibson in "Edge Of Darkness" and Sylvester Stallone in front of and behind the camera in "The Expendables" and "Rambo 5." Also "Lovely Still" - featuring Martin Landau & Ellen Burstyn. Matt Damon in the Paul Greengrass movie "Green Zone." Jake Gyllenhaal as "Prince of Persia" and Rose McGowan as "Red Sonja 2010." And Seth Rogen is "The Green Hornet." "Witchblade 2010," as well as sequels: "Nanny McPhee 2" and "Narnia 3" and everything from Daniel Radcliffe (naked at WAM and fully clothed) in "Harry Potter 7: Part 1," to the Disney 3D films "Cars 2" and "Toy Story 3." Michael Douglas in "Wall Street 2." And the requisites, "Cloverfield 2" and "Iron Man 2." Need more movies? The big screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" - finally - with a release date in November 2009. Also, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's two year delayed next collaboration, "Shutter Island." In addition, the big screen comedy "Leap Year" and the non comedy "The Escapist," and Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" and "The Hobbit Movies." And Kenneth Branagh's "Thor." Also "The Smurfs Movie" and the big screen version of Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" and Ben Stiller's "Chicago 7." And a slew of animated and non animated Walt Disney and non Disney movies, many in 3D: including "The Smurfs" and "Fraggle Rock: The Movie" and "The King of the Elves" and "Rapunzel," "The Bear and the Bow;" "Newt," "The Princess And The Frog." And also "How To Train Your Dragon." How about Heath Ledger's final movie, "Dr. Parnassus." The four Jonas Brothers in the big screen adaptation of "Walter The Farting Dog" and Also: Zac Efron naked but not in "Me And Orson Welles." Also, Chace Crawford in "Footloose 2010." Benicio Del Toro as "The Wolfman." And James ("Titanic") Cameron's "Avatar;" and Robert Downey Jr. as "Sherlock Holmes." In addition, the sequel to "Twilight," and "New Moon," "Eclipse" and all starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. And, "Captain America." Also, check out all of the "2008 Movies" that were released in movie theaters. We also bring you "2010 Oscars" pre-coverage - and the movie trailers and movie posters of all "2009 Movies" & "2010 Movies" in theaters, including today's IN THE SPOTLIGHT - "Step Up 3"... (continue)