Cinema Paradiso (1895-2020); Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (2021-??)

Cancel tickets as you walk in. Buy at box office.

Bang. Cinema saved.

Oh you Yanks are getting this too?

1godzillafan

deadline.com/2022/09/cineworld-regal-cinemas-bankruptcy-1235111953/

Sparks Fly Over Cineworld Bailout, But Judge Says: “I’m Not Going To Sleep Until We Get Those Employees Paid”; Bankrupt Chain Has Just $4M Cash On Hand

A federal judge sent a proposed $1.9 billion financing package for bankrupt Cineworld back to the table for a redo but said he’s committed to approving some kind of cash injection quickly for the Regal Cinemas parent.

Cineworld filed for Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Texas yesterday with a so-called DIP, or debtor-in-possession, loan from a consortium of lenders to keep operating while it cleans up its balance sheet. But Judge Marvin Isgur nixed $1 billion of that total earmarked, not for operations, but to refinance pre-petition loans from the same group of debtholders.

At a hearing today, lawyers for Cineworld and a majority of DIP lenders seemed flabbergasted when the judge demurred, stressing Cineworld’s dire straits with just $4 million of cash in hand. That’s “not sufficient to run a global operation,” said James Mesterharm of AlixPartners, the chief restructuring officer Cineworld hired in August to examine its books, leading to yesterday’s bankruptcy filing.

Without the DIP loan, the chain would be forced to “curtail their operations, which would be to the detriment of all stakeholders,” he said.

The judge offered a few options, suggesting the DIP group set the $1 billion aside for now while they — or others lenders — first address Cineworld’s immediate cash requirements with a stopgap payout in the hundreds of millions, to keep the lights on, something he said he would sign immediately. “I am not going to sleep until we get those employees paid tonight,” he said.

The judge also offered a high guaranteed yield of more than 20% to lenders willing to advance cash to Cineworld.

“I am trying to be flexible, The only goal there is that the billion dollars has to be delayed until I give people an opportunity to deal with it.” Creditor committees with their own financial advisors will to be set up, he said, as is routine in bankruptcies, and “perhaps propose an alternative.”

“This case was filed 26 hours ago and I am not going to decide the outcome of the case today.”

Michael Messersmith, an attorney representing 52% of the DIP lenders, said he’d do his best but “our group does not control 100% of the priority terms loans.” That is “causing me some angst. But we are creative lawyers, so I am hoping to be able to overcome that angst. We are going to work extremely hard to get there.”

“We need the money tomorrow. The only party who would provide it are the existing lenders. There is nobody standing by in place with a loan,” said Christopher Marcus of Kirkland Ellis, an attorney for Cineworld.

Isgur sent everyone out to renegotiate, asking them to return later in the day with a new proposal.

The hearing opened with a presentation of Cineworld history as a family company started by CEO Mooky Greidinger’s grandfather from one movie theater in Israel, growing to a state-of-the-art international behemoth. It was paying down debt and generally thriving, said Kirkland & Ellis, until crippled by Covid theater closures, weak attendance and a temperamental studio release schedule . A $1.24 billion judgement against it by Cineplex of Canada is under appeal, with a hearing scheduled for October. A bump in admissions early this year was promising but tentpoles dried up in late summer, tipping the chain into Chapter 11.

There hearing also including some pointed questioning by landlord representatives about the terms of the DIP. Cineworld holds over 500 leases in the U.S. and pays monthly rents of about $60 million. It didn’t meet most of its lease payments in September.

Hollywood studios and other vendors were listed among Cineworld’s biggest unsecured creditors in its Chapter 11 filing.

MORE to come

Spielberg is being asked about the movie going experience at a theater, which is admittedly awesome as we all know.

Steven as well as a lot of directors are always harping on the theater experience, this that and the other, magic magic magic.

These guys are going to updated theaters only. Sundance Cannes a few major theaters in NYC, la has updated theaters with pleather seats at the very least and updated audio and visual enhancements (be it laser, 4k, whatever).

I want them to go to an AMC classic in a shitty mall in a flyover state. Hell come to Pittsburgh and I'll take you to a shitty classic within a stones throw of my house. They won't be waxing poetic about the crackly sound when a low tone is hit, or the uneven leveling of the one theaters cockeyed projector. Left coast elite Doomsday doesn't even know how good they've got it over there.

Go to a shitty mall with a theater in it and tell me how magical the experience is. I still use these theaters as they are convenient and some of the only games in town. But I wish they would at least concede that some theaters are just such absolute shit you can completely understand why people don't go to them anymore and prefer to wait for release on streaming.

Legally, studios can own theaters again. Time for the Mouse to buy out AMC and Amazon to buy out Regal and call it a day. You’ll see better maintained theaters when the profit margin is there.




Yeah, but everything else sucked back then too. They didn’t even have colored television!

AMC could scoop up theaters ‘at bargain basement prices,’ CEO says


finance.yahoo.com/news/amc-ceo-says-theater-competitors-running-on-fumes-may-purchase-locations-at-bargain-basement-prices-131434976.html


AMC (AMC) CEO Adam Aron is preparing to go on a shopping spree if struggling theater operators begin to sell their locations amid financial struggles.

"I think there's going to be an opportunity for us to pick up theaters quite inexpensively and pick up really high-quality theaters and potentially quite profitable theaters," Aron said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "Right now, because of the unique position we’re in, that we have liquidity and a lot of our competitors do not, I think we're going to be able to actually pick up more very fine locations and do it at bargain basement prices."

Movie theaters tried a range of strategies to reengage customers after pandemic shutdowns and a surge in direct-to-consumer entertainment that prompted some studios to release box office titles directly on streaming services such as Netflix (NFLX), HBO Max (WBD), and Disney+ (DIS).

But a weak box office lineup in the third quarter didn’t make that comeback story any easier for the industry, despite the best efforts of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in "Black Adam."

"There are a number of smaller movie circuits that are in real trouble because they didn't raise the kind of money that we raised during the pandemic," Aron said. "And they're running on fumes."

In September, Cineworld — the parent company of Cinemark, Regal, and Picturehouse theaters — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and commenced a "real estate optimization strategy." The process was initiated after lighter-than-expected traffic to its theaters slowed recovery efforts amid the pandemic.

Meanwhile, AMC capitalized on the visibility it received after a short squeeze briefly catapulted the stock in January 2021. The movie theater chain executed strategically timed equity offerings to raise additional cash.

"AMC raised a lot of money in 2020 and 2021," Aron said. "We raised $2.25 billion by selling stock into the marketplace. And so when you look at our cash reserves, at the end of the third quarter, we had $900 million in liquidity."

Nevertheless, the CEO's willingness to spend on theater locations is counterbalanced by AMC's own closures of underperforming venues. Since the pandemic began, AMC has reduced its footprint by 57 locations overall, closing 106 locations and opening 49 new venues.


That hasn't deterred Aron, who sees a connection point for moviegoers returning to the theater experience as well as a larger addressable market through new investments, which include a mining company, AMC-branded credit cards, and a recent partnership with Zoom (ZM).

"We think that's going to be a real boost for our meetings business," Aron said on the company's Zoom Rooms partnership, adding: "that's the next one to come after our investment last winter in Hycroft, the gold and silver mine out in Nevada."

Just bought tix to the 75th anniversary of Its a Wonderful Life in theaters.

Let's see what new and wonderful ways Fathom Events can let me down

They did provide me the opportunity to watch that Peter Jackson WW1 doc, and that was pretty great

That's very reassuring. He did a great job with Doctor Sleep, and I caught a few of his mini-series on Netflix. Hopefully, he takes his time with it and doesn't rush it.

1godzillafan Dracula Doomsday SnoBorderZero thebtskink frankyt




39 more Regal’s


Tikahtnu Stadium 16 Imax and RPX (Anchorage, AK)
Metro Point (Costa Mesa, CA)
Berkeley 7 (Berkeley, CA)
Parkway Plaza Stadium 18 and Imax (El Cajon, CA)
Escondido Stadium 16 and Imax (Escondido, CA)
Hemet Cinema 12 (Hemet, CA)
Sherman Oaks Galleria 16 (Los Angeles, CA)
Yorda Linda and Imax (Yorba Linda, CA)
Meadows Stadium 12 (Littleton, CO)
SouthGlenn Stadium 14 (Centennial, CO)
Shadowood 16 (Boba Raton, FL)
South Beach Stadium 18 and Imax (Miami, FL)
Keauhou Stadium 7 (Kailua-Kona, HI)
Bolingbrook Stadium 12 (Bolingbrook, IL)
Round Lake Beach Stadium 18 (Round Lake Beach, IL)
Fenway Stadium 13 and RPX (Boston, MA)
Bowie Stadium 14 (Bowie, MD)
Rockville Center Stadium 13 (Rockville, MD)
Brunswick 10 (Brunswick, ME)
Beaver Creek Stadium 12 (Apex, NC)
Omaha Stadium 16 (Omaha, NE)
Concord 10 (Concord, NH)
Hamilton Commons Stadium 14 (Landing, NJ)
Pohatcong Stadium 12 (Phillipsburg, NJ)
Santa Fe Stadium 14 (Santa Fe, NM)
Village Square Stadium 18 (Las Vegas, NV)
Elmwood Center 16 (Buffalo, NY)
Ithaca Mall Stadium 14 (Ithaca, NY)
Cortlandt Town Center (Mohegan Lake, NY)
Union Square Stadium 14 (New York, NY)
Greece Ridge Stadium 12 (Rochester, NY)
Transit Center Stadium 18 and Imax (Williamsville, NY)
Montrose Movies Stadium 12 (Akron, OH)
Barn Plaza Stadium 14 (Doylestown, PA)
Oaks Stadium 24 (Oaks, PA)
Greenbrier Stadium 13 (Chesapeake, VA)
Stonefield Stadium 14 and Imax (Charlottesville, VA)
Meridian 16 (Seattle, WA)
Gallery Place Stadium 14 (Washington, DC)

Doomsday the Sherman Oaks Galleria is one of the casualties. And that's after it replaced the ArcLight there.