AMC and Loews Cineplex To Merge

The consolidation of the motion picture exhibition industry squeezed tighter Tuesday as AMC Entertainment and Loews Cineplex agreed to merge. If approved, the merger would give the new company, which will retain the AMC name, 13 percent of the nation's movie screens. Only Regal Entertainment, with 17 percent, is bigger, but many of its theaters are located in rural areas; the merged company would therefore account for the largest slice of the box-office pie. Analysts noted that since most of AMC's theaters are on the West Coast and Loews's are in the East, there will be little if any overlap of theater outlets. However, today's (Wednesday) Boston Globe pointed out that the merger would leave Boston "pretty much a one-movie theater-chain town." It quoted Perry Lowe, a professor of marketing at Bentley College in Waltham and a former theater operator himself, as saying, "'They may almost be monopolistic in the Boston market." Today's Los Angeles Times pointed out that both chains are controlled by venture capitalists, Regal by billionaire Philip Anschutz, and AMC/Loews by J.P. Morgan Partners, Apollo Management, Bain Capital, the Carlyle Group, and Spectrum Equity Investors. Paul del Rossi, former CEO of General Cinemas, which was recently acquired by AMC, told the Times: "I think the exhibition business is at a crossroads. ... The major players in the exhibition business are now controlled by venture capitalists, and they have different long-term views than traditional theater owners."

I was wondering when someone would post this.

It was a front pager yesterday (well, in the Business section).

I think I read that even after the merge, Regal would still be bigger.