A movie theater, cinema, or cinema hall, also known as the big screen, the silver screen, movie house, the movies, picture house, the pictures, picture theater, or simply theater is a business that contains auditoria for viewing films for public entertainment. Most are commercial operations catering to the general public, who attend by purchasing tickets.
Loews Cineplex Entertainment, also known as Loews Incorporated, is an American theater chain operating in North America. From 1924 to 1959, it was the parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM). It was formerly jointly owned by Sony Pictures and Universal Studios and operated theatres in the United States, Canada, South Korea, Spain and Mexico.
AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered in Leawood, Kansas. It is the largest movie theater chain in the world. Founded in 1920, AMC has the largest share of the U.S. theater market ahead of Regal and Cinemark Theatres.
Century Theatres is a movie theater chain that operates many multiplexes in the western United States, primarily in California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. In its later years, it had expanded into the inter-mountain states, the Pacific Northwest, Texas, Alaska and parts of the Midwestern United States. Founded in 1941, the chain was headquartered in San Rafael, California until it was acquired by Cinemark Theatres from Plano, Texas in 2006. Many now-Cinemark-owned theaters continue to operate under the Century brand.
Regal Cinemas is an American movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. A division of Cineworld, Regal operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with 6,853 screens in 511 theaters as of December 31, 2021. The three main theatre brands operated by Regal Entertainment Group are Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres, and United Artists Theatres.
Rave Cinemas, formerly known as "Rave Motion Pictures", is a movie theater brand founded in 1999 and owned by Cinemark Theatres. It previously was headed by Thomas W. Stephenson, Jr., former CEO of Hollywood Theaters, and Rolando B. Rodriguez, former Vice President and Regional General Manager for Walmart in Illinois and northern Indiana. The chain was headquartered in Dallas, Texas until it was acquired by Plano-based Cinemark Theatres.
Muvico Theaters was a movie theater chain headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Muvico had seven complexes in Florida, one in the Chicago metropolitan area (Rosemont), and one in Thousand Oaks, California. Muvico's theaters were known for the use of decorative themes at several theaters, such as the Egyptian, 1950s drive-in, French opera house, Mediterranean palace, and 1920s grand movie palace themes.
Cinemark Holdings, Inc. is an American movie theater chain that started operations in 1984 and since then it has operated theaters with hundreds of locations throughout the Americas. It is headquartered in Plano, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. Cinemark is a leader in the theatrical exhibition industry with 521 theatres and 5,855 screens in the U.S. and Latin America as of June 30, 2022. It is also the largest movie theatre chain in Brazil, with a 30 percent market share.
Carmike Cinemas was a motion picture exhibitor headquartered in Columbus, Georgia. As of March 2016, the company had 276 theaters with 2,954 screens in 41 states, and was the fourth largest movie theater chain in the United States. The company billed itself as "America's Hometown Theatre" and Carmike theaters were largely positioned in rural or suburban areas with populations under 200,000. The company's theaters operated under various names and generally had a name followed by the number of auditoriums at that location; for example, "Carmike 15".
National CineMedia (NCM) is an American cinema advertising company. NCM displays ads to U.S. consumers in movie theaters, online and through mobile technology. NCM presents cinema advertising across a digital in-theater network, consisting of theaters owned by AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, Regal Entertainment Group and other regional theater circuits.
Harkins Theatres is an American movie theater chain with locations throughout the Southwestern United States. Harkins Theatres is privately owned and operated by its parent company, Harkins Enterprises, LLC. The company operates 31 theaters with 487 screens throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, and Oklahoma. It is the 7th largest movie theater circuit in North America and the largest family-owned theater chain in the United States.
Cinépolis is a Mexican and international movie theater chain. Its name means City of Cinema and its slogan is La Capital del Cine.
MMCinemas was a cineplex company based in Monterrey, Mexico. It operated 87 cineplexes, primarily in northern Mexico, with more than 900 screens at the time of its merger with Cinemex in 2008.
CJ CGV is the largest multiplex cinema chain in South Korea and also has branches in China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Turkey, Vietnam, and the United States. The fifth largest multiplex theater company in the world, CJ CGV currently operates 3,412 screens at 455 locations in seven countries, including 1,111 screens at 149 locations in South Korea. CGV takes its name from the first letters of the joint venture partners at the time of launching; CJ, Golden Harvest, and Village Roadshow.
Cobb Theatres was an American cinema chain based in Birmingham, Alabama. The company was established in 1921, in Fayette, Alabama, expanding through the South starting in the late 1940s, and buying out General Cinema's West Central Florida theatres and Wometco Theatres in the 1990s before being bought by Regal Cinemas in 1997 and revived in 2001. Cobb operated 25 locations, the majority of which were located in Florida, with others in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, North Carolina, and Virginia.
4DX is a 4D film presentation system developed by CJ 4DPlex, a subsidiary of South Korean cinema chain CJ CGV. It allows films to be augmented with various practical effects, including motion-seats, wind, strobe-lights, simulated-snow, and scents. First introduced commercially in 2009, it presents films in both stereoscopic 3-D and monoscopic 2-D formats.
VSS-Southern Theatres, L.L.C. is a movie theater chain based in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It was founded by George Solomon in May 2002. It operates two brands; The Grand Theatre, and AmStar Cinemas. The Grand and AmStar operate 18 multiplex stadium-seating movie theaters. In total, the chain has 18 locations with 266 combined screens in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas, making it the sixteenth-largest theater chain in the U.S.
MX4D is a 4D film presentation system developed by the American company MediaMation that allows a film to be augmented with environmental effects, such as motion, odors, and humidity. It uses theater seats which tilt forward, backward, and to the side in synchronization with onscreen motion, as well as air blasts, tactile effects, and other technology.
Fandango Latam, previously known as Cinepapaya, is a company selling movie tickets online and through mobile devices. It also provides showtime information and movie related content.
