Regal Cinemas (also Regal Entertainment Group) is an American movie theater chain founded on August 10, 1989 and owned by the British company Cineworld, headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee,[3] and operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with 6,853 screens in 511 theaters as of December 31, 2021.[4] The three main theater brands operated by Regal Entertainment Group are Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres, and United Artists Theatres.
These chains retain their exterior signage, but most indoor branding (popcorn bags, policy trailers) uses the Regal Entertainment Group name and logo. Most new cinema construction uses the Regal Cinemas name. Regal has acquired several smaller chains since this merger; these, however, have been rebranded as Regal Cinemas.
On December 5, 2017, it was announced that the British theater chain Cineworld would acquire Regal for $3.6 billion,[5] making it the second largest global cinema exhibitor behind AMC. On September 7, 2022, Cineworld filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[6]
Regal Cinemas was established in 1989 in Knoxville, Tennessee, with Mike Campbell as CEO. Its first location was the Searstown Cinema in Titusville, Florida.[7] Regal began to grow at a rapid pace, opening larger cinemas in suburban areas. Many of these contained a "premium" café (later called Cafe Del Moro) and a more upscale look than typical theaters of the time.[8][9]
Regal Cinemas embarked on a large-scale expansion throughout the decade, acquiring smaller chains as well as building new, more modern multiplexes. Its largest acquisition during this original period was the 1998 combination of it and Act III Theatres, although it had acquired some smaller chains as well in the mid-1990s, including the original Cobb Theatres, RC Theatres, and Cleveland-based National Theatre Corp.[citation needed]
By 2001, Regal was overextended, and went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It became the namesake for the theater chain in which it would be merged into with the Edwards and United Artists chains.[10][11]
The chain's famous "Regal Roller Coaster" policy trailer,[12] animated by SmithGroup Communications [citation needed], which was shown before every movie shown from the early 1990s to the spring of 2005, was revived in 2010 and the current version was made in 2015, which was animated by The Tombras Group.[13]
United Artists Theatres
United Artists Theatres (established in 1924) has its roots in the movie studio of the same name founded by Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith, but legally has always been separate from it. Joseph Schenck was brought in to become UA's president in 1924; as part of the deal, Schenck entered into a partnership with Chaplin and Pickford to buy and construct theatres using UA's name. Over time, the chain became separate from the studio and by the 1970s was part of a larger company, United Artists Communications.[citation needed]
United Artists Theatres was purchased in the late 1940s by the Naify Brothers, who owned theatres in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their company up to this time was called Golden State Theatres. About this time they also acquired the San Francisco Theatres owned by Samuel H Levin. These theatres were the Balboa, Alexandria, Coliseum, Vogue, Metro, the Harding, and Coronet, which was opened in 1949. In 1988 UA bought the Philadelphia-based Sameric chain of about 30 locations in PA, NJ, and DE. The UA Theatres main office was in San Francisco until 1988 when it was sold to TCI. Thereafter, it was relocated to Englewood, CO.[citation needed]
UA was an early pioneer in cable television, and aggressively bought smaller regional systems. By the end of the 1980s, John Malone'sTele-Communications, Inc. was majority owner; on June 8, 1991, it purchased the remainder of the company. Then on February 19, 1992, TCI sold the theatre chain in a leveraged buyout led by Merrill Lynch Capital Partners Inc and UA management.[14]
Edwards Theatres was a family-owned chain in California, started in 1930 by William James Edwards Jr. It became one of California's best-known and most popular theater chains, and by Edwards' death in 1997, operated about 90 locations with 560 screens.[15] Edwards Theatres had its headquarters in Newport Beach, California.[16] His son, W. James Edwards III, became president and announced an ambitious expansion plan that would nearly double the company's screen count. The expansion plan gave Edwards a crushing debt load, and in 2000 it filed for bankruptcy.[17]
When all three chains went into bankruptcy, investor Philip Anschutz bought substantial investments in all three companies, becoming majority owner.[18] In 2002, Anschutz consolidated his three theatre holdings under a new parent company, Regal Entertainment Group.[19] Regal's Mike Campbell and UA's Kurt Hall were named co-CEOs, with Campbell overseeing the theatre operations from Regal Cinemas' headquarters in Knoxville, and Kurt Hall heading up a new subsidiary, Regal CineMedia, from the UA offices in Centennial, Colorado. The Edwards corporate offices were closed.
Regal and United Artists had attempted to merge before in 1998, using a similar method. Investment firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst announced plans to acquire Regal, then merge it with UA (which would be bought by Hicks, Muse) and Act III (controlled by KKR), with the new company using the Regal Cinemas name. UA eventually dropped out of the merger, but the merger between Regal and Act III went through.
As Regal consolidated the three chains, CineMedia began work on a new digital distribution system to provide a new "preshow," replacing the slides and film advertisements with digital content. NBC and Turner Broadcasting were among the first to sign on to provide content for the venture, and the preshow, dubbed "The 2wenty," debuted in February 2003; this pre-film preshow is now known as "Regal FirstLook." The new distribution system was also meant to be used for special events such as concerts. Regal CineMedia merged with AMC Theatres' National Cinema Network in 2005 to form National CineMedia. In effect, this was a takeover of NCN by Regal CineMedia, as Kurt Hall stayed on as CEO and AMC adopted Regal's preshow. Regal owned 50% of the new company before it went public.
Since the 2002 formation of REG, it has acquired several smaller chains. It took over the US assets of Hoyts Cinemas in March 2003[20][21] and announced the acquisition of San Ramon, California–based Signature Theatres in April 2004.[22] Unlike the merger with UA and Edwards, Regal has rebranded all of these theatres as Regal Cinemas. In April 2005, Eastern Federal, which was a theatre company in the Southeastern United States, was acquired by Regal.[23] In February 2013, Regal agreed to purchase Hollywood Theaters, a nationwide chain of 46 theaters that operated from Portland, Oregon. The sale was closed on April 1, 2013.[24] In May 2017 Regal purchased the $200 million company Warren Theaters based in Wichita, Kansas. The sale included all Warren Theater locations in Wichita KS as well as those in Moore and Broken Arrow OK. The theaters will continue operation under the Warren name.[25]
In 2007, REG opened its first all-digital projection theatre in Henderson, Nevada (a suburb of Las Vegas), the Fiesta Henderson Stadium 12. Regal sold Fandango to leading cable company Comcast Corporation in 2007.
Regal Entertainment Group completed its acquisition of Consolidated Theatres on May 1, 2008.[26] In the transaction, Regal acquired Consolidated's 28 theaters and 400 screens for $210 million. Consolidated's concentrations of theatres in the Mid-Atlantic states of Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and North and South Carolina overlapped in some places with Regal's. As of a condition of approval of the merger, the United States Department of Justice required that Regal divest itself of several theaters in areas where it would have a monopoly. Regal agreed to sell off four theaters in the Asheville, Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina markets, but a large number of theaters still remains in all three markets.
On May 17, 2009, Regal signed a deal with Sony Corporation to equip all of its theaters with Sony 4K digital projection over the next three to five years.[27]
In April 2010, Regal launched Regal Premium Experience (RPX), an upgraded theater format. Each RPX theater features a 60-foot screen, dual 30,000 lumen digital projectors, a 7.1 sound system, a Dolby Atmos sound system or an Auro 11.1 sound system with 273 loudspeaker components including eight 21 inch subwoofers. There are reclining leather seats with headrests. Both digital 2D and RealD 3D films can be screened.[28] As of January 2016, there are 87 operating RPX locations.[29]
In June 2011, after posting a loss for the first quarter, Regal began downsizing its theater workforce by removing managers from projection and replacing them with lower paid floor staff. This move allowed Regal to lay off part-time managers across the country and forcibly demote many full-time managers to part-time. As theaters converted to all digital automated screens, Regal also removed projectionists altogether. This focus on "cost control" helped the company post better than expected profits for the 3rd quarter of that year.[30]
In March 2014, AEG and Regal announced an agreement to add 4DX—a 4D film format—to its location at L.A. Live.[31] As of 2018, it operated six 4DX screens nationwide, with plans to expand to at least 79.[32]
A Cinebarre, a subsidiary of Regal Cinemas, in Salem, Oregon
In December 2015, Regal took over managing operations of Cinebarre, a former joint venture between Regal Entertainment Group and Terrell Braly. These locations feature a full bar and made-from-scratch restaurant menu, allowing patrons to order before/during a movie and have the food delivered directly to their seats. As of August 2024, there are four Cinebarre locations operating within the United States.[33][34]
In January 2016, Regal was issued a temporary injunction by a district court in the state of Texas following complaints by the Houston-based cinema chain iPic Entertainment, which found that Regal had colluded with 20th Century Fox, Sony, and Universal by threatening boycotts of their releases if they did not refuse clearance of their films to smaller cinema chain locations (such as iPic).[35]
In November 2017, Regal began merger talks with the UK theater chain Cineworld.[37] On December 5, it was officially announced that Cineworld would buy Regal for $3.6 billion, forming the world's second-largest cinema group.[5]
Regal adopted a new logo in October 2018, featuring an emblem resembling a camera aperture and crown. In recognition of the company's Knoxville heritage, Regal adopted orange as a corporate color in reference to the Tennessee Volunteers.[38]
In July 2019, Regal announced a new movie ticket subscription service known as Regal Unlimited. This service allows users to see an unlimited number of movies and receive a 10% discount on concessions, although there is an additional surcharge for premium movie formats. The service is modeled upon a similar program employed by Cineworld.[39]
On January 7, 2020, in alignment with existing agreements with Cineworld, it was announced that PepsiCo would replace The Coca-Cola Company as the exclusive supplier of non-alcoholic beverages to all Regal cinemas, notably breaking a monopoly held by Coke among the top three cinema chains in the United States, which also includes AMC Theatres and Cinemark Theatres. Pepsi also became the "exclusive sponsor" of Regal's 4DX screens.[40]
COVID-19 pandemic
Regal's Union Square location in October 2020, displaying a message on its marquee protesting continued closures of cinemas in the state of New York; "48 states have reopened theatres safely. Why not New York, Governor Cuomo?"
On March 16, 2020, Regal Cinemas closed all 543 of its theaters in the United States indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming the first theater chain in the United States to close all its theater locations as a result of the pandemic.[43] Regal Cinemas started reopening most of its theaters on August 21, 2020, with a few delayed until August 28 and others closed indefinitely due to local restrictions or having already been planned to close prior to the pandemic.[44]
On October 5, 2020, Cineworld announced it would close most Regal, and all Cineworld, and Picturehouse Cinemas locations in the US, UK, and Ireland indefinitely, beginning October 8. CEO Mooky Greidinger specifically cited that the continued reluctance of New York to allow cinemas to open was the main factor, as well as the lack of tentpole Hollywood films due to the high cost of operating a cinema without new releases (describing the delay of the James Bond filmNo Time to Die from November to April 2021 as being the "last straw"). Mooky argued that the studios were holding off on new releases until New York cinemas reopen (accusing Governor Andrew Cuomo of being inflexible, despite having allowed other forms of indoor businesses to resume operations), and that the company only planned to reopen its cinemas once it is confident there is a "clear" and "solid" lineup of new releases.[45][46][47]
The closures initially excluded seven recently opened locations in California,[48] and 11 New York state locations (after it began to allow cinemas outside of New York City to reopen on October 23 at 25% capacity if specific health metrics are met).[41] However, on November 9, Regal announced that these locations would close until further notice effective November 12.[49]
On March 23, 2021, Cineworld announced that in light of theaters in New York City and Los Angeles being given the go-ahead to reopen theaters earlier in the month, they would begin reopening select Regal locations on April 2, in time for the release of Godzilla vs. Kong, with the company aiming to have most Regal locations reopened by April 16, in time for the release of Mortal Kombat, which was pushed back a week to April 23. The wide reopening was pushed back to May 7, with all but 13 open by May 28.[50][51] Cineworld reached agreements with Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. to commit to theatrical windows.[50][51]
On June 19, 2021, Regal Cinemas acquired the lease of the former Arclight Cinemas at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Los Angeles, with plans for a $10 million remodel that would include premium large format, 4DX, IMAX, and ScreenX screens.[52][53][54] In January 2023, however, it was announced that the theater would close on February 15 unless the lease was renegotiated, but it continued to operate after the date had passed.[55][56] In May 2023, Regal announced that they had reached a new lease agreement with the galleria to continue operating the theater.[57]
In April 2023, it was announced that Regal had acquired the lease to the former ArcLight theater at The Paseo in Pasadena, California.[58][59] The location reopened as part of the Regal chain in June of that year.[60]
Cineworld bankruptcy
In August 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that Cineworld would file for bankruptcy after struggling to rebuild attendance and incurring debts of more than $4.8 billion amid the pandemic.[61] Cineworld confirmed that Regal Cinemas would remain in operation while Cineworld would evaluate their financial strategies.[62] On September 7, 2022, Cineworld announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Cineworld plans to emerge from Chapter 11 in the first quarter of 2023, and planned to pursue "a real estate optimisation strategy", including the closure or sale of theaters and other discussions with landlords on its cinema lease terms with Regal.[6]
On September 28, 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that Canadian exhibitor Cineplex was exploring the possibility of merging with Regal;[63][64] Cineworld had attempted to acquire Cineplex in 2020, but was forced to pay US$1 billion in damages for breach of contract after backing out of the deal.[65] Cineworld was denied an appeal by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, which had ruled in favor of Cineplex in the associated legal dispute.[63] In May 2023, Cineworld said that its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy is expected to happen in July of that year.[66][67]
Premium theaters
RealD 3D: A stereoscopic partner of Regal that shows movies in 3D.
Regal Premium Experience (RPX): Regal's premium large format.[68] RPX provides Dolby Atmos sound, ButtKicker motion seats, and 4K laser projection on a maximized screen.[69]
IMAX: Regal operates at least 94 IMAX locations in the United States.
4DX: Created by CGV's CJ 4DPLEX, 4DX utilizes motion-enhanced seats that sync with the film's actions, accompanied by environmental special effects such as wind, strobe lights, water, air blasts, leg ticklers, vibrations, rainstorm, smoke, and scent. It opened its first theater at the L.A. Live theater in 2014 and has 32 theaters as of May 2021.[70]
ScreenX: A movie theater that presents films with two additional screens on walls for a 270-degree view. Created by CJ CGV and has 34 theaters as of May 2021.
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 Cinemas and Cinemark Theatres.
Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain, with 9,139 screens across 747 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The group's primary brands are Cineworld Cinemas and Picturehouse in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Cinema City in Eastern and Central Europe, Planet in Israel, and Regal Cinemas in the United States.
Edwards Theatres is an American movie theater brand owned and operated as an in-name-only unit of Cineworld through its Regal Cinemas chain. Originally founded in 1930 by William James Edwards Jr., it operated independently as a major theater chain in the Southern California region until it was consolidated with Regal Cinemas and United Artists Theatres into the Regal Entertainment Group (REG) in 2002. Although REG took over all Edwards operations, many theaters in Southern California still bear the Edwards name for marketing purposes.
Sherman Oaks Galleria is an open-air shopping mall and business center located in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, at the corner of Ventura and Sepulveda Boulevards in the San Fernando Valley.
Cineplex Inc. is a Canadian operator of movie theater and family entertainment centers, headquartered in Toronto. It is the largest cinema chain in Canada; as of 2019, it operated 165 locations, and accounted for 75% of the domestic box office.
Famous Players Limited Partnership was a Canadian-based subsidiary of Cineplex Entertainment. As an independent company, it existed as a film exhibitor and cable television service provider. Famous Players operated numerous movie theatre locations in Canada from British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador. The company was owned by Viacom Canada but was sold to Cineplex Galaxy LP in 2005.
National CineMedia, Inc. (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 Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, Regal Cinemas and other regional theater circuits.
4D film is a presentation system combining motion pictures with synchronized physical effects that occur in the theater. Effects simulated in 4D films include motion, vibration, scent, rain, mist, bubbles, fog, smoke, wind, temperature changes, and strobe lights. Seats in 4D venues vibrate and move.
A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens or auditoriums within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an extension or expansion of the building. The largest of these complexes can sit thousands of people and are sometimes referred to as a megaplex.
Cinépolis is a Mexico-based international movie theater chain. Its name means City of Cinema and its slogan is La Capital del Cine.
ArcLight Cinemas was an American movie theater chain that operated from 2002 to 2021. It was owned by The Decurion Corporation, which was also the parent company of Pacific Theatres. The ArcLight chain opened in 2002 as a single theater, the ArcLight Hollywood in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and later expanded to eleven locations in California, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Illinois.
MovieTickets.com is an online movie ticketing website founded by AMC Theatres and Hollywood.com in 2000; CBS Corporation, Famous Players, and National Amusements all came on board prior to launch; and it is now a subsidiary of Fandango Media. MovieTickets.com provides movie times for all theaters, and online ticket purchasing for all Clearview Cinemas and National Amusements theaters, among other smaller chains; such as Mann Theatres in Los Angeles. In 2010, MovieTickets.com sold over 16 million tickets for over 200 exhibitors, with 14,000 screens.
Pacific Theatres was an American chain of movie theaters in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of California. Pacific Theatres was owned by The Decurion Corporation which also owned and operated ArcLight Cinemas. In 2008, it sold its store locations in San Diego to Reading Cinemas. In April 2021, Pacific Theatres announced they would not be reopening any of their theater locations after being closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2021, the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Following the closure, some former Pacific locations were acquired by AMC Theatres.
Warren Theatres was a movie theater chain based in Wichita, Kansas, United States. While the company was founded by Bill Warren, he sold ownership of most of the Warren Theatres locations to Regal Entertainment Group in 2017. The sale excluded two theaters that were in development and the Palace Theatre in Springfield, Missouri.
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, strobelights, simulated snow, and scents. First debuted in 2009, it presents films in both stereoscopic 3D and monoscopic 2D formats.
NCG Cinemas is a movie theater chain headquartered in Owosso, Michigan and are owned and operated by the Geiger family. The chain consists at present of 25 theaters with 147 screens. Most of the theaters are located in Michigan with 10 locations, especially in the Flint/Tri-Cities region and the Greater Lansing area. The group also operates in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, New York State, North and South Carolina and Tennessee.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on certain films in the early 2020s, mirroring its impacts across all arts sectors. Across the world, and to varying degrees, cinemas and movie theaters were closed, festivals were cancelled or postponed, and film releases were moved to future dates or delayed indefinitely. Due to cinemas and movie theaters closing, the global box office dropped by billions of dollars, streaming saw a significant increase in popularity, and the stock of film exhibitors dropped dramatically. Many blockbusters originally scheduled to be released by mid-March 2020 were postponed or canceled around the world, with film productions also being halted. This in turn created openings for independent cinema productions to receive wider exposure.
Moshe "Mooky" Joseph Greidinger is an Israeli businessman. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cineworld, the world's second largest cinema chain. Together with his brother Israel, they owned 29% of the company. On 31 July 2023, it was announced that Mooky and his brother will leave Cineworld, after the company entered Chapter 11 process in September 2022. His family has had interests in the cinema business since the 1930s.
↑ "Privacy Policy." Regal Entertainment Group. Updated on April 9, 2018. Retrieved on July 28, 2010. "Regal Cinemas, Inc. 101 E. Blount Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37920."
↑ Group, Regal Entertainment. "About Our Company". Regal Cinemas. Retrieved February 7, 2021.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
↑ "Contact Us." Edwards Cinemas. May 10, 2000. Retrieved on February 2, 2011. "Our corporate offices are located at: 300 Newport Center Dr. Newport Beach CA. 92660."
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US$ 3,197.10 million [1] (2016)
