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AMC, Loews Cineplex To Merge!
posted by
br91975
on
June 21, 2005 at 5:56 am
According to this story from Yahoo News, the long-discussed merger between AMC Theatres and Loews Cineplex is about to become official.
What this means in terms of theatre divestment or zones with competing AMC and Loews properties (the AMC Empire 25 and Loews 42nd Street E-Walk in Times Square and the 600 N. Michigan, Esquire, and AMC River East 21 sites in Chicago, among other examples) remains to be seen.
Comments (50)
From a historical perspective, there’s no word on whether the Loews name will disappear or remain on the properties being consumed by the merger.
please dont let it happen.
for god sake dont let the merge happen at all.
AMC THEATRES is not the best theatre chain in the world.
i used to work for this dum company and they tell to many lies.
LOEWS THEATRES,please stay on your own ground and stay away from
amc theatres
ron c.
I too hope this merger doesn’t take place. AMC always uses there name. They changed all the GCC to AMC as they did when they purchased the Budco chain in Phila. They end up closing more than they keep especially if they are not multiplexes. They closed all the center city Phila theaters they purchased.
This would be very bad, and I hope the antitrust authorities react properly.
If you go to amctheatres.com and on the lower left of the web site you will find “investor relations”, click this on and you will find the news release regarding this transaction. I have not checked the Lowes web page, however I assume that there is the same type of news release there. There is not mention however what will happen to theatres that are located “across the street” from each other. Only time will tell in this matter. Does anyone know how the “new” AMC will rank with other theatre chains? and has anyone been to either of AMC’s new IMAX auditoriams in Kansas City or Arizona, would be interested in your perspective of the experience there. Thank you.
I suspect the Loews name will disapear as well, AMC wants to get its brand out there. I like AMC more than Loews, granted there is a historical context there (even though its name ought to be Loew’s! So all that mess about LCE celibrating 100 is crap, considering all their theatres at one point swiched to the Sony name). AMC offers student rate, movie watchers and significantly lower prices than the other chains have (if you don’t belive me price out a large popcorn and soda there verses at Regal).
Say all you want about AMC but they actually moved a movie palace and incorporated as part of a megaplex instead of building a tacky looking building with movie palace themeing. I supsect some of their locations may swich operators (maybe E-Walk will be sold off to either Clearview or Regal). This new company will still only be the number two exhibitor in the US, REG is just that huge. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I don’t know, AMC seemed to embody the big box theory that America seems to have been taking a liking to lately, yet they provide a good quality movie going experience everytime. Loews, in my opion does not- their theatres are ussually dirty, the pictures are framed wrong- atleast with AMC I know what I’m in for. I welcome this change, although I’m sad to see the Loews name go as well in a way. And, ofcoarse AMC has better popcorn.
Getting off topic, anybody here about the second comming of General Cinema as supsected on the Chestnut Hill Cinemas page? They were the best.
I agree with John J.Fink. Here in Toronto there are 5 AMC megaplexes and they are clean, nice design and relatively quiet when compared with the Famous Players lobbies which are loud, garish and overdone. Incidentally here in Canada, Cineplex Odeon purchased Famous Players a couple of weeks ago so this will completely shake up the movie chains here in Canada. AMC was in the running for taking over FP so maybe they will buy some of the 35 theatres that CO has to sell as per the Federal Competition Bureau for the deal to go through. I would welcome more AMC here in Canada.
I fear Loews Tower east is doomed, unless Clearview takes it over.
I wonder if a Clearview take over of some NY houses is possiable. When they merged with Cineplex Oden most of the Oden houses were sold off (as Cineplex Oden had, I think the most locations in Manhatten). What about 42nd street? Clearview Empire 25? Man, thats scary.
(Especially after Cablevision just spent a few million on the IFC Center, which is so tottally unrelated to Clearview they don’t even serve the same kind of soda)
AMC will probably do when they did with GC, keep the houses open and quitely close them off when their leases were up. They essentally are a chain of large houses, most with 16+ screens. I’m still shocked they’re opperating the Essex Green cinema in NJ (they sold off the Headquarters 10, only to a few years later aquire a 9-plex).
When I used to live in Clifton, there were two main theatres, the General Cinema (now AMC) Clifton Commons 16 and the Loews Wayne 14. Now that the merger will be complete, will both of these houses remain open? It would be scary if the chains were an AMC Wayne 14 and an AMC Clifton Commons 16, not to mention the return of AMC to Rockaway after four years of closing the old theatre (along with the current Loews theatre, the East Hanover location). I wonder if they’re going to change the theme song (Thank you for coming to Loews) into a musical tune like AMC? That would be weird.
Tim, the Montreal papers reports that a small quebec chain Cine-Enterprise wants to buy the 35 leftover cinemas in Canada. They have theatres in suburban Montréal, Trois Rivieres area, Granby and in Saguenay. that will get then everywhere else in Canada.
hello again
like i said before,i used to work for this company and they tell to
many lies and they dont even tell the truth about the theatres.
i used to work for the budco theatre chain in phila and AMC told us
that they was going to build more theatres in center city phila.
they didnt,they just close the center city theatres one by one.
then they started to close some more theatres around the phila
area.
the fools even closed the lehigh valley mall cinema and that
theatre was a money maker and you can catch the bus to get there
but you will have a very hard time catching a bus to the
tilghman 8 cinema and yes i used to work there too,and the managers
are fools there.
to me the whole AMC THEATRE CHAIN has nothing but fools working
in that company and i just hope that loews cinemas dont merge
with at all,amc will fire all of the managers that has been working
at those theatres for along time.
just look what they done to the budco chain.
ron c.
Isn’t Muvico coming to Leigh Valley, it was weird seeing the Leigh Valley Cinema close, I wish somehow it could have been perserved, its important in some way to the history of exhibition, current history, it had many GC design features that are now gone with the AMC closures. I can’t blaim them though. They closed Rockaway Mall when the rent doubled.
They are all about attracting crowds, and often times are smart about their programing (especially at Clifton Commons where they stagger showtimes and interlock, they do their best to keep shows from selling out despite the fact the theatre lacks an screen larger than 300 seats). I think AMC controlling Pallisades Center (a theatre you often have to buy tickets in advance for, especially on a Saturday night) they’ll make that theatre bareable again.
I do understand your frustration, the center city phildephia lacks movie theatres (except for The Ritz chain, really). Although, you gotta dig The Bridge. I think this new move will force N/A to build more/convert their chain to include more CInema De Lux locations to seperate themselves from AMC and Regal which are pretty much offering the exsact same product. This move will diffinatly impact the future of cinema exhibition.
So New York will lose the Loews name, a name synonymous with New York for generations of moviegoers. And also the Cineplex Odeon name may disappear forever too.
I can’t believe all the theatre chains that I grew up with have now gone into heaven: Eric, Budco, Loews, GCC, Walter Reade, Cinema 5.
Next United Artists?
Loews is a brand name, indeed synonymous with New York. It would be silly for AMC to give up the marketing potential that goes along with a reknowned name. When Federated Department Stores acquired Macy’s it didn’t convert that brand into A&S or Sterns dept. stores, but instead converted those stores into Macy’s.
Yes Mike, I saw that in the Toronto papers as well about Cine-Enterprise. They also mentioned Empire Theatres of Atlantic Canada as well as Landmark and Red Lantern from the west and Alliance Atlantis Cinemas as well. It will be interesting to see if one chain buys all 35 or several chains buy in their particular region. What about Guzzo cinemas of Montreal.
Boston now has only two movie theatres – one Loews with 19 screens opened in 2001, and one AMC (former GCC) with 13 screens opened in 2000. Will the combined company keep both, or will anti-trust guidelines force them to sell one of them?
Hi i live in san antonio tx and what i see going on here with this merger is simple monkey see, monkey do. AMC is trying to overtake Regal by purhasing other chains next i bet we will see Regal take over another chain like rave theatres or some more of the regional chains like carmike cinemas or crown theaters. When is this going to stop. I have never been to new york or even a LOEWS Theater but even i know of the history of the loews chain and its a shame. Whats going to happen if the Theater Industry does not watch it is another collapse of the market. I have been in this bussiness ever since i was 19 and im 35 now i remember the first collape that caused massive chains to file for bankrupcy! Everyone remember REAGAL AND AMC BACK THEN!!!!!
Tim, Montreal Gazette reports that Guzzo is not interasted in any of the theatres, (they opened a 14-plex in may and a 18-plex is opening on the 29th. in Montreal.)
AMC was one of the only chains that didn’t fall in 2000, they were smarter about how they built and managed their theatres. They are sort of the Wal Mart of multiplexes, they offer 28 screens of movies at slightly lower prices than REG, they have their nitch. Loews' prices were higher (for, in my opinion a lesser quality experience). AMC isn’t in CT (and will only have two locations in that state) so they seem like a likely candidate to aquire Crown, but remember with Crown they own a few older sites, its' not just megaplexes like the Palace 17- they’d also have to deal with the awful, rundown, misrable Cinema City. Can other chains survive in this Regal/AMC universe? I don’t know, it’ll be interesting to see with this expansion of the AMC brand if theater have to lower their prices to be competitive with this giant.
Some people might confuse the AMC brand with the AMC movie channel or the old AMC car company, but the acquisition of Loews will make them the name for big-screen entertainment. Imagine the widespread installation of THX in all their theatres, since some of those AMC theatres were General Cinemas, including Clifton Commons.
In the greater Boston area (broadly defined as the area covered by Boston Globe movie advertising), Loews has six theatres.
Three of these are modern megaplexes, built within the last few years with stadium seating and lots of screens: Loews Boston Common (19 screens), Loews Theatres at The Loop in Methuen (19? screens), and Loews Liberty Tree Mall (20 screens). These would all fit in with AMC’s style of operation.
But I have to wonder about the other three. The Harvard Square Theatre is a large 1920’s single-screen that was turned into a 5-plex in the 1980s. It’s in the heart of a student neighborhood and does great business, so I can’t imagine it closing. But it also isn’t the kind of property that AMC likes to run. Will they sell it off?
The Assembly Square Cinema in Somerville is the only former Sack Theatre still operated by Loews. It’s a badly dated 12-screen complex built in the early 1980s, of no architectural distinction and next door to a dead shopping mall. Will AMC update it, sell it, or just close it?
Ditto for the Fresh Pond Cinema, which started off as a General Cinema single-screen in the 1960s but was reopened as a 10-plex in 1990.
AMC’s Boston area theatres are all former General Cinemas. Their local flagships are AMC Fenway 13 and the five-screen Chestnut Hill Cinema. Someone recently reported here that Chestnut Hill has been sold off, but it’s still being advertised today as an AMC theatre.
Also, even though I haven’t thought highly of Loews management in recent years, it will be sad to see this century-old name disappear nationwide. It has been in Boston almost as long as it was in New York, starting with the Orpheum which Marcus Loew took over in 1910.
Over the following seven decades Loew’s at various times also operated the Loew’s State, the St. James, the Columbia (not yet listed here), and finally the Abbey Cinemas.
When the Abbey closed in 1975, that was the end of Loew’s in the Boston area for a while, but they returned in 1988 by buying the USACinemas (formerly Sack Theatres) chain.
I remember amc was a part of all the bankrupcies that took place in 1999 and 2000 the only diference was between regal and amc was they reorganized better and faster than regal.
Thanks Mike about Guzzo, love your website by the way.
AMC never went bankrupt. However, General Cinema went bankrupt and then AMC took them over.
WELL AMC THEATRES SHOULD GO BANKRUPT AMD LOEWS SHOULD BUY THEY OUT.
I HATE AMC THEATRES AND I HATE THE WHOLE DAMN COMPANY.
CLOSE ALL OF THE GOOD THEATRES AND THEY DONT EVEN HAVE ANY KIND OF
THEATRES THAT SOME OF THE BEST ART FILMS AROUND.
INSTEAD OF AMC THEATRES CLOSING ALL OF THE THEATRES THAT IS NOT DOING TO WELL,THEY SHOULD TURN THEM INTO SOME KIND OF SUB-RUN
HOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO CANT PAY FOR THE HIGH PRICE THEATRES
RON C.
wELL Ron your right about amc closing the smaller theaters. To be honest i used to work for amc as a projectionist and that sdds sytem we had at my theater HUBNEROAKS24 here in san antonio was ok for a while then it turned to crap breaking down all the time. I have since learned from a current employee over there that amc has stoped installing sdds systems in the new construction projects. You watch amc is trying to over take regal for the most screens in the us and what i dont understand is how creditors would approve such a merger between amc and loews considering that this past year revenue at the box office has been flat.
You know its to bad some company could be formed with the name ganeral cinema and rebuild the type of theaters that they used to have because you know amc has the rights to the name and design of the old GCC.
when i was living in phila there was two main theatre chains.
one was the SAMERIC THEATRE CHAIN AND THE OTHER ONE WAS
BUDCO THEATRES.
i used to work for the budco chain and that was the best theatre
chain that i have ever worked for,until amc theatres moved in and took over our company and that is when things started to go down hill from there.
the first thing that they did was to fire all of the managers that was working for the budco chain and put in their own creepy managers.
two,then they said that they was going to build more theatres for center city phila ( i had siad that on tuesday )
then the closing of some of the old budco theatres that everyone loved going to.
now this is all that we need is amc theatres to buy another theattre chain and move there own creepy managers in there and fire all of the managers who have been working for the loews theatres for along
time,if dont fire them,they just might move them down from managers to cashier or working the conc.stand.
i have seen that done in phila and that is why once the sameric theatre was sold to UA.all of the budco managers went to work fo them.
yo barry lee,your really know your stuff about the movie business
and thanks for understand on what i have to say about this crap that amc want to do
ron c.
The combined AMC-Loews chain would be 2nd largest in the US after Regal. Head offices and film buying would be in Kansas City — where AMC has its head office.
I see the Loews E-Walk in Times Square being spun off if/when the merger goes through. Although the Loews E-Walk and AMC Empire are across the street from each other, the 25-screen Empire would be the more logical fit. AMC opened the Empire at a time when Loews was not playing 20th Century Fox titles in Manhattan. Also, the Empire is more willing than the E-Walk to play upmarket/art product.
Hey Ron, which theatre did you work at? Orleans? 309?
Ron, things need to get shaken up at Loews, from a customer stand point AMC is a far better chain than Loews, I could go on and site atleast 10 bad movie experiences at diffrent Loews across NJ, NY, and CT. I didn’t know Budco Theatres, but Loews, in all honestly has run its coarse. It’s brand name is even spelled wrong (for the puriests, it should be Loew’s!) The days of the Loew’s movie palaces are over, the new cineplexes they built are ugly and cheesy looking, they did all this to themselves, bassicly. Their operations are flawed. Hell, they can’t even keep open a little ice cream and coffee stand and thier hot foods kitchen at their Paramus Ten Plex while the National Amusements down the street keeps pretty much an entire foodcourt open (four diffrent concessions offering real food). Loews is flawed, their theatres smell (part of the reason is that Nacho Grande they offer), and the quality just isn’t there (they were well run under Sony’s ownership). I say bring on AMC, they have a corporate philosphy. They usshered in multiplexing (they weren’t the first, ofcoarse), but they used it as their marketing ploy- they have a corporate idenity. Loews, quite honestly sucks these days, always a problem, really bad popcorn. Say what you want about AMC, the experience there is second only to National Amusements from a multiplex operations point of view.
Then again I know what its like to lose a movie theatre or chain you really loved, but AMC is so much better than Loews, essentally we’re losing the WORST CHAIN CURRENTLY IN OPERATION. And this is a very good thing.
The last time I went to an AMC theatre was the former Rockaway movie theatre that’s now a best buy. I only saw one movie there, Exit Wounds, and the sound and picture were pretty good as well as the seats. Too bad it closed. Now that the new AMC/Loews Rockaway theatre is coming, it better be good. Compared to the Loews, it wasn’t that crowded. As for the deal, they should lower Loews' prices since their outrageously more expensive ($9.50+ for prime time tickets) than other chains in my neck of the woods.
i used to work at the midtown,goldman,regency and the cheltenham twin
the only thing that i will hate to see is all of the managers that works at the loews theatres lose their jobs to AMC,AMC has this thing
getting rid of all the managers that have been working at these theatre for a very long time.
that is not right for AMC THEATRES to do that,i was working for the budco theatre chain in phila for a very long time and when amc took over our company i lose working for some of the best managers in the business.
why dont they just call it one company and the name of the company
should be called AMC/LOEWS to me that sounds like a very good name for the company.
right now i dont really care about the way amc run their theatres at all,they lied to me and they also lied to a lot of my friends that used to work for the budco theatre chain.
When AMC acquired General Cinema in 2002, they did not fire the managers. One of the managers was transfered from the GCC/AMC Franklin Mills 14 to the AMC Neshaminy 24 (where I proudly work at) and 2 weeks ago was transfered to the AMC Santa Anita 16 in Arcadia, CA.
The reason why AMC closed the Regency Twin, and Sameric closed the Duke And Duchess, in 1987 was because the owners of One and Two Liberty Plaza bought the buildings, just like the owners of PNC Bank Center did in 1980 with the Fox Theatre, The Stage Door Theatre and The Milgram Theatre (The former RKO Stanley Warner’s Stanton Theatre).
The last Center City theatre to close was the REG Sameric 4 Theatre (the former RKO Stanley Warner’s Boyd Theatre). Clear Channel is set to reopen the Sameric as The Boyd Theatre (and restoring the 1928 marquee that The Stanley Company Of America originally had on the building.
In the Philadelphia area, the only AMC/Loews gain will be the Loews Cineplex Cherry Hill 24.
Some of the theatre chains Loews Cineplex purchased started in Philadelphia, that being RKO Century Warner, having been RKO Stanley Warner, Stanley Warner and The Stanley Company Of America, started 1903 by Stanley and Jules Mastbaum. Jules Mastbaum’s legacy lives on with the Jules Mastbaum Memorial High School and the Rodin Museum
AMc may have treated you bad back in 1987, but AMC has changed in the 18 years since the puerchase of Budco Theatres. A lot of the Budco theatres were closed and replaced by a newer AMC Theatre (the AMC (Budco) Springfield Twin was replaced by the AMC Marple 10, The AMC (Budco) Barn 5 was replaced by REG Barn Plaza Stadium 14, to name a few.
but still.when amc took over the budco chain just about all of the managers went to work for sameric chain and one of those managers
was my old boss,he was the area manager for budco theatres and then he went to work for the sameric and had the same job.
when some of the managers who also work for budco theatres did the same thing they follow him too.
all of the managers who was working for amc theatres when they took over didnt like the things that they was doing,i was one them.
yes i do know about sale for the regency twin the duke and duchess theatres and the fox theatre,and the milgram theatre,and the stage
door cinema,these was just some of the theatres that i used to work at and it is a damn shame that they gone now
and i still dont think that amc theatres has change at all this is the amc theatres logo that me and some of the old co-workers
came up with when we used work at these theatres
AMC THEATRES,THERE STUPID
the is the only thing that me and all of my old friends that used to
work for this company,and i feel very bad for some of my other friend who works for loews cineplex,they have already told that
are leaving the company once the deal is done.
ron c.
but still.when amc took over the budco chain just about all of the managers went to work for sameric chain and one of those managers
was my old boss,he was the area manager for budco theatres and then he went to work for the sameric and had the same job.
when some of the managers who also work for budco theatres did the same thing they follow him too.
all of the managers who was working for amc theatres when they took over didnt like the things that they was doing,i was one them.
yes i do know about sale for the regency twin the duke and duchess theatres and the fox theatre,and the milgram theatre,and the stage
door cinema,these was just some of the theatres that i used to work at and it is a damn shame that they gone now
and i still dont think that amc theatres has change at all this is the amc theatres logo that me and some of the old co-workers
came up with when we used work at these theatres
AMC THEATRES,THERE STUPID
the is the only thing that me and all of my old friends that used to
work for this company,and i feel very bad for some of my other friend who works for loews cineplex,they have already told me that
are leaving the company once the deal is done.
ron c.
I was told by guest at my theatre that the managers at Budco Theatres were not fired, as you say, but they all quit. AMC never fired any managers from the former General Cinema Theatres or the former Gulf State Theatres.
Some of these managers are now vice presidents and managing directors at AMC Theatres, and the parent company: Marquee Holdings, which is a joint venture between JP Morgan Partners, a division of JP Morgan Chase Inc., and Apollo Management L.P.
The only people lossing their jobs with this merger are the home office personel at Loews. The New York office will be closing and between 30-40 people loss their jobs and everything will be coming out of Kansas with AMC.
If the merger causes some theatres to close, won’t that also cause job losses?
Definitely, Ron, definitely.
The only theatres I expect to close are those that are already not long for this world, I doubt AMC would close a profitable cinema just because its old and only has 5 screens. If anything, if a cinema still puts up a profit and a deveoloper/land owner still is interested in having a theatre on the property it’ll have a life with some other chain. Look at the many General Cinema locations that found life in other forms (many are bar/grill types of cinemas) – I don’t think many folks have to worry about losing their jobs except those in New York. (And hey, Loews Theatres are currently poorly run- why would they want those people hanging around tarnishing the AMC name).
In the Philadelphia area, some of the former Generl cinema locations and what they are now:
Franklin Mills 14: AMC Franklin Mills 14
Plymouth Cinema 12: AMC Plymouth Cinema 12
Deptford Mall 6: AMC Deptford Mall 6 (or as the General manager of both the Deptford 8 and Deptford Mall 6 calls them, The Deptford 14)
Northeast 4: Burned out building
Franklin Mills 10: A church
Plymouth Meeting Twin: The food court at Plymouth Meeting Mall
Baederwood Twin: Baederwood Stadium 4
Walnut Mall 3: Closed as Cinemagic 3 at Penn Theatre
The only ones who will lose their jobs with the Loews-AMC merger are those who works at Loews corperate offices, and the theatres that both companies will have to close in NYC, Boston and Chicago because of the merger.
In the Boston area, almost all of the GCCs that were open in July 1998 are still operating as AMCs today: Fenway 13, Chestnut Hill 5, Braintree 10, Burlington 10, Framingham 14 (now 16), and Tyngsboro 12.
The one exception is the four-screen GCC at Hanover Mall, which had closed in 1998. This reopened in 2001 as a Patriot Cinema. It now has six screens and will soon have ten.
Are Boston, Chicago, and NYC the only places where both Loews and AMC now operate?
There are Loews Cineplex and AMC theatres in Los Angeles. I am curious to know what will become of the AMC Santa Monica 7 & the Loews Broadway Cinemas 4. These are located at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica California just a stones throw from each other. Both are first run movie houses and everytime i am there both are crowded. There is also competition from 3 other theatre chains in the neighborhood. As for the rest of Los Angeles this merge would not cause any closures as far as i could tell.
It safe to say the Los Angeles area won’t have to sell off any of the AMC or Loews Cineplex theatres, since neither chain is the dominant chain in the La market. the same can’t be said for Chicago, NYC or Boston.
In Boston, AMC and Loews Cineplex are the two dominant players in the market and after the merger, will own all the theatres in Boston.
In NYC, Loews Cineplex is the dominant player (through mergers with Walter Reade and RKO Century Warner), and AMC has 2 theatres (The AMC Empire 25 Theatre and the AMC (Former GCC) Bay Plaza Cinema 13 Theatre.
Alrightly then.