Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Regal Entertainment Group acquires Hollywood Cinemas

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Posted by Michael McGovern (Member # 4807) on 02-19-2013, 11:37 PM:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-regal-acquisition-20130219,0,3428534.story

I wonder if Regal is ever going to stretch themselves too thing with all these acquisitions? I know Hollywood operates a few locations that are waaaaaaay out there like in Guam, Samoa, and Northern Mariana Islands, I wonder if these locations were included? I can't imagine Regal operating theaters in such remote areas, it wouldn't make sense financially to do so if you're only going to have a handful of locations. My guess is those theaters are or will be sold separately to local buyers, or Regal is just going to buy them and shutter them. They do operate some very successful locations in Hawaii and Alaska, but even that's not nearly as far way from the continental US as the other places are.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-19-2013, 11:40 PM:

The Story below:

quote:

By Richard Verrier
February 19, 2013, 4:55 p.m.

Shares of Regal Entertainment gained modestly Tuesday after the nation's largest theater chain announced it had reached a deal to acquire Hollywood Theaters.

Regal Entertainment Group said it has entered into an agreement to buy Hollywood Theaters, a Portland, Ore., chain that operates 43 theaters in 16 states, for $191 million in cash and about $47 million of assumed lease obligations. Most of Hollywood's cinemas are concentrated in Texas, Missouri, Hawaii and Kansas.

Investors responded favorably to the news. Regal shares closed up 3% at $15.83. Shares have climbed 9% this year for Regal, based in Knoxville, Tenn.

“Regal is well-positioned to once again generate results above expectations in 2013 driven by its leading industry position on a robust film slate,” Eric Wold, an analyst with B. Riley Caris in San Francisco, said today in a research note.

The acquisition, subject to regulatory approval, would add 513 screens to Regal's portfolio, which includes 6,880 screens in 540 locations.

The Hollywood Theaters deal will add to the company's cash flow, Regal Chief Executive Amy Miles said in a statement. Such acquisitions are "a key component of our overall business strategy and we look forward to a successful closing and integration of the Hollywood Theater assets during the second quarter," Miles added.

The deal is the latest in a string of consolidations in the U.S. exhibition industry. Cinemark USA Inc., the nation's third largest theater chain, announced in November that it was acquiring Rave Cinemas, the Dallas chain that operates the former Bridge theater in Los Angeles, for $240 million.

Carmike Cinemas, the Columbus, Ga., chain, said it had already signed an agreement to buy 16 theaters with 251 screens from Rave for $19 million in cash and $100.4 million of assumed lease obligations.

China's Dalian Wanda Group last year acquired AMC Entertainment, the nation's second-largest theater chain, for $2.6 billion.

And this small story on Cinemark

quote:

Cinemark USA, Inc., the nation's third largest theater chain, said it is acquiring Rave Cinemas, the Dallas, Texas based chain that operates the former Bridge theater in Los Angeles, for $240 million.

The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, includes 32 theaters located in 12 states, representing 483 screens.

Based in Plano, Texas, Cinemark operates 461 theatres with 5,207 screens in 39 U.S. states, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and 10 other Latin American countries.

"The acquisition of these high quality assets will further enhance Cinemark's diversified domestic footprint, including the expansion of our presence in the New England market," Tim Warner, Cinemark's Chief Executive Officer said in a statement.

The theaters generated revenues of $228 million and net income of $21.9 million in the last year.

Launched in 1999, Rave expanded by acquiring and renovating theaters in underserved smaller markets in the South and Midwest, including Ft. Wayne, Ind., Baton Rouge, La., and Peoria, Ill.

The chain, backed by TowerBrook Capital Partners, a New York investment firm that owns the alcoholic beverage superstore BevMo, was an early player in screening live sporting events and concerts in theaters.

The deal is the latest consolidation in the U.S. exhibition industry. Last month, Carmike Cinemas, the Columbus, Ga.-based chain, said it had signed an agreement to buy 16 theaters with 251 screens from Rave for $19 million in cash and $100.4 million of assumed lease obligations.

China's Dalian Wanda Group recently acquired AMC Entertainment, the nation's second largest theater chain for $2.6 billion.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 02-20-2013, 12:56 AM:

McAuthur Marketplace 16 in Irving was originally opened by UA/Regal, ended up in Hollywood's hands...and, if the deal does not fall through, will end up with Regal again.
Regal will also be re-entering Midland and Odessa, which they also left many years ago. Maybe before Regal acquired UA, I believe UA sold some of their properties to Hollywood, a lot of which have closed. The theaters in Midland and Odessa were built new by Hollywood.
Strange scenes in the gold mine...

Posted by Maybelline Cabrera (Member # 4495) on 02-20-2013, 01:16 AM:

Michael,

I work with the Hollywood Theaters out here in Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands) and yep, all three out here are included in the deal.

May

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-20-2013, 09:26 AM:

I wouldn't be surprised to see Regal shut down some of the existing Hollywood Theaters locations. Some of Hollywood's theaters are fairly nice, like the 14-plex they recently built just north of Colorado Springs. Others aren't so great.

I'm surprised the Hollywood Spotlight 14 in Norman is still open. I wasn't impressed with the place when it opened back in 1997. Now the Moore Warren 14 (plus IMAX & 2 "Directors Suites" houses) is just a few miles north on I-35. It outclasses the Spotlight 14 in every way. Regal will have to do a lot to get that existing theater competitive with the Warren location. That might involve demolishing the existing theater and building something brand new. Perhaps that's really the plan.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 02-20-2013, 09:42 AM:

My Regal related quote regarding this:

"All your theatres are belong to us".

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-20-2013, 09:56 AM:

I suppose someday there will just be one gargantuan company owning all the chains.

Then Disney will buy that company, decide it's not profitable enough, and close all the theatres down.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 02-20-2013, 10:43 AM:

Speaking of chains, I heard on the radio this morning Office Max and Office Depot may be merging.
Regal may want to keep Midland and Odessa, as the grosses in both towns have gone up due to the influx of oil money.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 02-20-2013, 11:22 AM:

A slogan from the Borg came to mind when I read this.

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 02-20-2013, 06:33 PM:

I love how Film-Tech knew about this before I did, and I work at a Hollywood! Just found out today, however Regal did a very through 'inspection' of all the facilities a number of weeks back.

Awfully curious to see what all changes......

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-20-2013, 07:03 PM:

Mike,

I do not think Disney and other studios are allowed to own and operate thratres anymore. Fox, Warner and Lowes (MGM) used to but they had to sell their theaters when the government made them do it.

There used to be Hollywood theatres on Oahu here in Hawaii but they have all closed. I think there are a few on the neighbor islands including one or two on Maui.

-Claude

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-20-2013, 09:16 PM:

Claude I was mostly making a joke, what with Disney being the all-devouring conglomerate that it is. However I don't think it is illegal for studios to own theaters anymore. (I'm not sure about that though.)

Posted by Maybelline Cabrera (Member # 4495) on 02-20-2013, 09:21 PM:

quote: Buck Wilson
I love how Film-Tech knew about this before I did, and I work at a Hollywood! Just found out today, however Regal did a very through 'inspection' of all the facilities a number of weeks back.

Awfully curious to see what all changes......

Heh, I actually found out early yesterday and contemplated on whether I should post the article here or not. I wonder how everything will pan out this summer.

May

Posted by Michael McGovern (Member # 4807) on 02-20-2013, 10:29 PM:

Buck - Good luck, I was part of a Regal merger in 2004, and the differences were night and day. Any local autonomy you might have over your own theater is gone, Regal is very much a company that like to micro manage down to the very last detail. They are very Disney-esque in that they want to present themselves as more than just a movie theater, they want to present themselves as an experience.

Regal doesn't have employees, they have "cast members" and they don't have customers, they have "guests". Basically any story you've ever heard about companies bending over backwards to placate insane and unprofitable customers is magnified 10x with them in my experience. They would rather lose 5 good employees than 1 bad customer. Oh, and pay for staff and management is outrageously low compared to the amount of work and responsibilities they expect you to handle.

I honestly have very few good things to say in my experience from working there, and I know others on this board that have worked for them who have even fewer good things to say than I do. So my best advice would be, good luck.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 02-21-2013, 10:09 AM:

Regal Entertainment Group is a company that is run by the numbers:

As an employee you are given a employee number. You work at a numbered location in a numbered region.

That's it.

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 02-21-2013, 09:29 PM:

No different with Hollywood Theaters...

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 02-22-2013, 12:15 PM:

quote: Michael McGovern
Buck - Good luck, I was part of a Regal merger in 2004, and the differences were night and day. Any local autonomy you might have over your own theater is gone, Regal is very much a company that like to micro manage down to the very last detail. They are very Disney-esque in that they want to present themselves as more than just a movie theater, they want to present themselves as an experience.

Regal doesn't have employees, they have "cast members" and they don't have customers, they have "guests". Basically any story you've ever heard about companies bending over backwards to placate insane and unprofitable customers is magnified 10x with them in my experience. They would rather lose 5 good employees than 1 bad customer. Oh, and pay for staff and management is outrageously low compared to the amount of work and responsibilities they expect you to handle.

I honestly have very few good things to say in my experience from working there, and I know others on this board that have worked for them who have even fewer good things to say than I do. So my best advice would be, good luck.

Well Michael, back in '04 I worked for Regal as assistant manager for a salary of $500. per week. I worked for the nicest manager I had ever know in my 25 years in the business. I never felt like a number and was never referred to as a "cast member". Perhaps what you experienced was brought on by your manager. The man I worked for left Regal after 20 years because the district manager (who was a really nice guy) was replaced with a female jerk who tried to teach my manager (who had been with Regal longer than she)how to manage a theatre and nit-picked just about everything.

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 02-22-2013, 01:18 PM:

Somehow I missed that response.

It really DOESN'T sound much different unfortunately, that's about what it's like already. ALL HAIL THE MORON CUSTOMER!!

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 02-23-2013, 02:29 PM:

So let's recap...

Hollywood Theatres was acquired by Wallace Theatres, who were founded by Scott Wallace after Moyer Luxury Theatres became Act III Theatres, who were folded into Regal.

Act III's unwanted corporate staff then for all intents and purposes took over management of Wallace (in Act III's old corporate office no less), bought Hollywood, and became the new Portland-based Hollywood Theatres, who have just now been bought by Regal.

God damn soap operas.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-23-2013, 04:58 PM:

Isn't this where "wackiness ensues?"

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 02-23-2013, 05:19 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
However I don't think it is illegal for studios to own theaters anymore. (I'm not sure about that though.)

Sony owned Loews (sp?) for a while a few years ago so it can't be illegal. I guess it was technically Sony owning a Studio and a Theatre chain but I imagine the law is the same if the chain was under the studio.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-24-2013, 12:04 AM:

quote: Robert E. Allen
back in '04 I worked for Regal as assistant manager for a salary of $500. per week. I worked for the nicest manager I had ever know in my 25 years in the business. I never felt like a number and was never referred to as a "cast member". Perhaps what you experienced was brought on by your manager. The man I worked for left Regal after 20 years because the district manager (who was a really nice guy) was replaced with a female jerk who tried to teach my manager (who had been with Regal longer than she)how to manage a theatre and nit-picked just about everything.

Fully agree with the manager experiences. I've heard a lot of stories of the sour taste a lot of former employees that worked with REG had, yet some employees had great experiences with REG, and it's all due to the manager on how he looks upon his staff-both management and cast members.

Either he looks at them as a part of a great team, or he looks, esp at the cast members, as "minions"-blank faces wearing their maroon polo shirts and black pants.

And, this can really go with any 'big box' cinema company or any large company in general.

Unfortunately, and this will easily drift back into the projection end of the industry spectrum, that there are some of us out there that care about our job in which it may not be approved by the new ones (esp with the story of the mgr and the DM, where the old DM goes out and the new one comes in and cranks all over the existing manager), where the new ones really feels threatened due to the qualifications of the present manager or cast members-they turn the qualified into the over qualified that needs to be replaced.

In all, and to be fair: REG is NOT that all bad of a company. It's the manager and how they reflect to his employees on how bad the manager hate their job to their employees. And by doing so, this attribute gives REG (and any other company in general) a unfair "black eye" that they didn't earn and deserve.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-24-2013, 07:06 AM:

Nah; sorry the bigger the badder! Louis

Posted by Maybelline Cabrera (Member # 4495) on 02-24-2013, 09:49 PM:

For those who worked for theaters that were bought by/merged with Regal, were any of the staff changed (besides the situation with the GM/DM)?

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-25-2013, 12:37 AM:

I was one of the original EDW's employees hired here when EDW opened locations here in Idaho.

I was hired shortly after James Senior passed away and "JEIII" had his dad's company.

When EDW, along with UA and REGAL got their companies merged in together to form Regal Entertainment Group in the spring of 2002, our jobs remained intact since we were "grandfathered" in with the new corporation.

Some locations had a smooth transition whereas others weren't so smooth and some EDW managers left since they had a hard time adapting the way REGAL (whom was given operational control of the new corporation) operated and their policies.

Posted by Michael McGovern (Member # 4807) on 02-25-2013, 06:55 PM:

What I found when working for them was that they wouldn't replace any management, but what I would see is Regal would take over a theater from a company that had neglectful or non-existant security and HR departments, so you would get locations run by management who would steal, work 15 hours a week on salary, and / or fudge their payroll numbers, and would get away with it because no one ever caught them or told them not to. These people would quickly get run out of the building when Regal came along because their HR and Security departments are the polar opposite of neglectful.

The other thing I would see is the hard working veteran manager who has their soul sucked out from underneath by Regal's spirit crushing corporate attitude, and the impossibly lofty goals set forth by corporate management. (ie: We want you to have zero lines, get a perfect secret shopper score, a four dollar concession percap, and a lobby so clean you can eat off of it, and you have a payroll budget of $17 to make it happen, and you can't go over budget.)

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-27-2013, 11:50 AM:

Thing we have to realize with a lot of these large companies is their form of operation.

Take Apple for example: They have a huge profit margin simply due to being a manufacturing company and selling a product and products. Thus, their workforce could be the size of REGAL, but in many small steps up to the corporate mgmt - including a small percentage of assembly line workers, then to assembly management, engineers and technicians, plant management, sales and marketing and finally up to corporate.

Basically, a lot of room for inner company growth and wage earning that one can achieve.

REGAL and other cinema companies - big and small - can't have this form of operation due to being not a manufacturing company where a product is made, but just an service venue to offer entertainment.

Thus, REGAL may have the same workforce as APPLE, but in only two catagories, locationwise, being staff member and management, and the percentage of staff members massively overshadow the amount of management, let alone the amount of corporate employees. Plus, the profit margin with any of these cinema companies can't even match the profit margin with APPLE.

Not much room for growth here for moving up and giving the good wages as does the employees working for APPLE.

Thus, the cinema industry really have to look at payroll where the floorstaff and maybe location management are just statistics and numbers that the companies really have to keep an eye on since the only way a cinema can make the monies is with concession sales being this is only where a product is actually being sold.