Pacific Hollywood Cinerama Dome Gone Or Coming Back?

[Marcel Birgelen]

Regarding movie theaters and malls... While I do understand that you want to put your theater where the people are, I've never really understood the appeal of colocating movie theaters and malls, let aone fully integrating them. While this seems to be a very "American" thing, there are quite a few examples in the U.K., mainland Europe, Asia and all over the world...

Maybe I project things too much onto myself, but I guess it's normal to start right there. I personally never have felt the urge to visit a movie theater while being at a mall. Both activities don't match with my usual habits: Shopping is something I do during daytime and going to a movie is something I usually do at night.

At night, most malls are pretty desolate places, even those that still have some life in them left. I guess the major advantage is that the parking space around the place can be used more efficient this way, but I don't see the appeal of visiting a mall once most stores have been closed. Those big, empty places often also tend to attract some kind of crowd during the night, that doesn't inspire confidence into my visit...

Then there is the natural tendency for malls to die. While even before the pandemic hit, shopping malls seem to have been caught in their own little pandemic, I've witnessed this trend of the "dying mall" before. Most of those malls are pretty generic places, also sometimes called "Liminal Spaces" and as soon as somebody constructs a newer, more fancy mall, the old mall usually starts to die a slow and painful death.

While some may apply a certain level of nostalgia to the mix, for me, a shopping mall is usually something both ephemeral and forgettable. It's as ephemeral as the Las Vegas Strip (the next time you'll visit, it will look radically different) and forgettable like a dollar menu at McDonald's. Going to a movie theater to see a movie, at least for me, is different. While the movie may be completely forgettable, the experience usually is not. Also, movie theaters don't seem to be as ephemeral as your average shopping mall shop (at least if they aren't run by AMC). Movie theaters tend to be important beacons inside a community and it seems that nobody, even those who never visited, likes to see them close.

I guess that's why I don't get why to combine malls and movie theaters. They focus on different activities and the one always has been highly ephemeral, while the other should be a much more permanent fixture. Many movies hinge on the importance of nostalgia, so why shouldn't the place you watch them in be equally filled with nostalgia?

[Leo Enticknap]

Yes, but the big question is how the sites that they actually own, rather than rent (the two Hollywood ones, and Winnetka) are sold. Will anyone buy them to operate them as movie theaters (or rent them to operators who will)? My gut feeling is that the two Hollywood sites stand a good chance, but that Winnetka is more of an open question. I was there for around three days a week over a three month period a couple of years ago, installing the Samsung LED videowall. On some of those days I was leaving to go home at around the time that the 6pm round of shows were going in. The audiences didn't look very good to me, even in the weeks that had relatively strong movies. As against which, the other retailers in that mall are basically done if the theater doesn't reopen. It's in the middle of a residential and light industrial area, and anybody who doesn't live or work there would have no reason to go there if they weren't going specifically to that mall. So either the theater reopens, or the mall as a whole is finished.

[Frank Cox]

Chapter 7 is the real bankruptcy thing (closed, out of business, assets sold off) rather than the sorta-pretend bankruptcy where a company just files some paperwork and continues operating more-or-less as before, right?

If so, then that's too bad to see more theatres bite the dust.

[Leo Enticknap]

Pacific has gone Chapter 7:

Pacific Theatres Exhibition Corporation, which includes Arclight Cinemas, is really not set to reopen anytime soon. The exhibition company released a statement today that they’re filing Chapter 7 in order to liquidate their assets for creditors.

We hear that “the assets” which this bankruptcy pertains is the equipment, seats, projectors, and popcorn machines as the all the Arclight and Pacific locations, except for the Arclight Hollywood and Cinerama Dome which is owned by a different company. Also include in the filing is the Winnetka Pacific Theatres location in Chatsworth, CA which Pacific owns.

As we previously reported, AMC is closing on a deal to take on the leases of Pacific’s multiplexes at The Grove in Los Angeles and The Americana in Glendale, CA; both Caruso owned properties. Movie theater showtime sites began listing AMC Grove and AMC Americana earlier this week; those were promptly pulled down with Caruso and AMC providing no statement as to what occurred. Still no word who is getting the other leases, in particular the Sherman Oaks, which is typically one of the top-ten grossing cinemas in the United States. AMC CEO Adam Aron said publicly that he was making a go at the Arclight properties, but we’ve heard others are in the mix, i.e. Cinemark, Cinepolis.

Many of those in distribution circles believe that the Cinerama Dome/Hollywood Arclight will eventually reopen, it’s just a question of when and this news of Chapter 7 just provides more grey clouds as it’s clear Pacific will not be reorganizing. We’ll update you with more details as we learn more about the bankruptcy.

Here’s Pacific’s statement:

"After a year of the pandemic’s devastating effect, Pacific Theatres Exhibition Corporation announced in April that it would not reopen its ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres locations. Having taken steps to wind down the business, the company today is seeking protection under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code in order to liquidate its remaining assets for the benefit of its creditors.

We are deeply grateful to our employees, our guests, and the film community for coming together over the past decades to create so many wonderful moviegoing experiences. We are overwhelmed by the extraordinary outpouring of memories. Thank you for sharing these with us."

So the two sites in Caruso-owned malls look like surviving, as does Sherman Oaks (Cinepolis would be a good fit, IMHO, as they have done pretty well at Pacific Palisades). But the Dome and Hollywood Arclight are still uncertain. If Winnetka is not sold as a going concern movie theater, that raises the question as what will happen to the Samsung Onyx LED videowall there. That's a bummer: I spent around three months helping to install that monster, and it can't have been in revenue-earning service for more than a year and a half.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I hope they can keep the squatters out of there before they start to tear the place apart. Apparently, ArcLight/Pacific didn't own the property itself, so who does?

[Leo Enticknap]

Drove past The Dome one day last week - totally boarded up, with homeless people's tents on the sidewalks surrounding it. Very sad. The Grove is in a Rick Caruso-owned mall, and he has stated his belief that his large malls need to have a movie theater in them to be commercially viable. I'm guessing that he could have cut AMC a very good deal on rent to make that happen.

[Mark Ogden]

It appears that AMC will take over the Grove in Hollywood and the Brand Americana in Glendale. For a few minutes yesterday, an empty template for both theaters appeared on AMC's website before being taken down, pretty much an omen.

[Leo Enticknap]

At least the building is still there, even if it has been repurposed.

[Bobby Henderson]

Google Street View imagery shows it at the Ziegfeld Ballroom:

ZiegfeldBallroom.jpg

[Mitchell Dvoskin]

Now you Los Angeles people know how us NYC and Northern NJ people felt when the Ziegfeld Theatre closed. At the time, I know that the new operators were planning to convert the Ziegfeld into a club, but I don't know if it ever opened as such.

[Leo Enticknap]

Stick some sodium lights up in the roof of the dome, and you have yourself the biggest marijuana farm in the state, probably.

[Terry Monohan]

Or the new 'HOLLYWOOD GYM-O-RAMA'. All these new money computer people moving into Hollywood need a place to work out. They stream movies at home. The Pacific Theatre group can collect big monthly fitness memberships way more then a ticket for a movie seat. They can show nature films while you work out on the big ex CINERAMA® curved screen with wrap around rave music.

They will just need a spot in the old candy counter to put in showers/lockers and dressing rooms.

Pacific can also turn the former Dome into a large nightclub if they choose. When the right promoter wants to pay a big lease price movies will never be shown again on the Cinerama® screen as we know It.

[Jim Cassedy]

It will probably wind up being converted into the world's largest Starbucks, or a geodesic Walgreens.

[Leo Enticknap]

Here.

What’s next for empty Pacific Theaters and ArcLight Cinemas?

Decurion Corp.’s decision to permanently shutter its Pacific Theaters and ArcLight Cinemas chains after closing the 300 California venues amid the COVID-19 pandemic will leave lots of empty real estate in its wake.

Pacific Theaters, whose footprint includes the iconic ArcLight and Cinerama Dome theaters in Hollywood, said that “despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward.”

So what becomes of these properties? Will they be snapped up by another theater chain or subdivided into other retail uses?

One industry expert figures it could be a little of both.

“A likely scenario would be another theater chain coming along that has adapted better during the pandemic,” said Adam Handfield, a senior associate with SRS Real Estate Partners. “But one company taking over all 300 theaters would be a long shot. I could see a company taking over 25 or 50 locations. It would probably be on a case-by-case basis.”

Handfield cited the Dallas-based Studio Movie Grill and the Mexican-owned Cineopolis theater chains as potential suitors for the properties but said the venues could also be split up for other uses.

“It could be used for multifamily housing, grocery stores or fitness boxes, side by side,” he said.

Upside down on rental leases

The trade publication Deadline Hollywood said Decurion has “handed the keys back” to the landlords on all their ArcLight and Pacific properties. What happens next, Deadline said, will be up to the property owners.

“Many of the ArcLight venues the chain doesn’t own, and it’s those where they rent where the company is upside down on their leases,” the article stated.

Pacific Theaters also operates multiplexes at The Grove and The Americana at Brand shopping malls. Both Los Angeles-area retail centers are owned by Caruso Affiliated.

Rick Caruso, the billionaire, founder and CEO of Caruso Affiliated, said he plans to maintain a theater presence at both malls.

“Our theaters have consistently performed among the top in the country, so I have no doubt in my mind that this is what our guest is looking for – that this is a part of the very culture that defines who we are as Angelenos,” Caruso said via email. “We believe in the future of this sector, the future of entertainment, and we will not submit to the pressures of this unrelenting year.”

Supporters of the Cinerama Dome on Sunset Boulevard have already launched a petition on Change.org to preserve the iconic venue.

“It has been the choice of the greatest filmmakers in the world to showcase their films, including Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan and many more,” the petition says.

More than 10,000 people had signed the appeal as of Thursday, April 15.

Luis Olloqui, CEO of Cinepolis’ U.S. operations, didn’t say if his company was interested in taking over any of the theaters. But he expressed sadness over Pacific’s decision to close them.

“We were very disappointed to hear of the closing of ArcLight,” he said. “It’s been an extremely difficult year on all exhibitors and we sincerely hope that something can be done to save these iconic theaters.”
Regal reopenings

The Pacific Theater closures were announced less than two weeks after Regal reopened six of its Southern California theaters with scores of other Regal locations set to reopen later this month and in May.

Regal’s reopening plan includes a wide range of health and safety measures that adhere to CinemaSafe protocol and guidelines aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19. Employees will wear masks and undergo daily health screenings, including temperature checks where mandated.

A heavy hit during COVID-19

Few businesses have been as heavily impacted by COVID-19 as movie theaters. AMC Entertainment reported losses of $946 million for the final quarter of 2020, and the company lost a total of $4.6 billion for fiscal 2020.

“This past year has presented AMC with the most challenging market conditions in the 100-year history of the company,” AMC president and CEO Adam Aron told investors recently.

Aron added that the company’s theaters in New York City have reopened with L.A.-area theaters likely to follow soon.

A report from IBISWorld reveals that revenue for the movie theaters industry plummeted 77.2% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures.

“Over the five years to 2026, the industry will likely continue to struggle with difficulties left behind from the coronavirus pandemic,” the report said. “Large profit losses will likely drive some industry operators to close permanently and leave others with lasting challenges.”

Recovering employment and consumer spending will likely help the industry moving forward, IBISWorld said. But despite an expected 53.5% jump in revenue in 2021, it will take several years for the industry to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

The report predicts the industry will generate $6.3 billion in revenue in 2021.

Caruso said his properties have always been inspired by the art of filmmaking and the magic of Hollywood.

“We will rise up and reimagine the future of moviegoing,” he said. “We firmly believe in the future of the moviegoing experience.”

Positive noises from Caruso; especially given that he owns dozens, if not hundreds of malls across the state, many of which have movie theaters in them - not just those two.

[Harold Hallikainen]

I remember seeing a presentation at ICTA several years ago that analyzed various improvements that could be made to an auditorium. According to that analysis, replacing traditional seats with recliners had the highest return on investment, even with reduced capacity.