What's the latest theatre to close or open you have heard about?

[Don Furr]

For you theatre owners who lease their property to another operator, this is something you need to do. When we retired we leased our remaining two theatres to a single operator. Our attorney informed us that a UCC filing was in order to protect our property interest (equipment, etc) in the event the operator went Bankrupt. In fact our leasee filed Bankruptcy on one of our theatres and the court wanted to take control of our property to dispose of our equipment. I presented our UCC to the judge and control of the theatre's content was returned to us which we later sold to another operator. So if you lease your property, insist that your attorney fill a UCC with the state to protect what belongs to you.

A UCC filing is a legal notice a lender files with the secretary of state when they have a security interest against one of your assets. It gives notice that the lender has an interest, or lien, against the asset being used by you to secure the financing. The term “UCC filing” comes from the uniform commercial code.

[Marcel Birgelen]

In most jurisdictions, the term "Bankruptcy" is indeed closer to what Chapter 7 bankruptcy entails, although most modern economies do have some similar provisions as a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy that gives a failed company some time to reorganize and some kind of protection against its creditors during the time of restructuring. Usually, a majority of the existing creditors need to agree to the restructuring plan, in order for the company to emerge from its failed state.

The Chapter 11 procedure has gotten quite some critics over the years, as in, that it's too easy for companies to simply use this strategy to shed some costs and debs. Similar procedures all over the world have obviously been abused for similar purposes.

[Leo Enticknap]

Bankrupt used to mean bust, out of business, piecing out and auctionioning of the assets underway.

Now it seems to be a legal strategy to throw loans and leases overboard...

I think the latter definition is pretty much unique to the USA, though I may be wrong. A "Chapter 11 [Title 11, United States Code] bankruptcy" is a procedure whereby a business is granted legal protection from its creditors by a court while it is reorganized in order to be viable again. The safeguard against abuse is that a judge has to approve the application for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and also to approve the major reorganization steps that are taken. That judge is not supposed to approve throwing any obligations overboard that the business can meet while still remaining viable. That's the theory, anyways.

Chapter 7 is bankruptcy as the rest of the world understands the term: the winding up and liquidating of a business that is no longer viable, and the distribution of its remaining assets to its creditors. One important difference, as I understand it, is that only the business itself can file Chapter 11, whereas creditors of a business that are owed money by it can ask a court to declare it Chapter 7 bankrupt.

[Geoff Jones]

AMC is apparently opening a new cinema in Denver tomorrow, in a redeveloped area at 9th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard known as "9+CO." The theater will have the magnificently awful name "AMC 9+CO 10."

According to 9 News, AMC 9+CO 10 will include "the latest features for the moviegoing experience:"

• AMC Signature plush, power recliners.
• Heated seating.
• Online ticketing, reserved seating and ticketless entry.
• Dolby Cinema at AMC.
• AMC Feature Fare menu.
• AMC MacGuffins adult beverage concept.
• Mobile Food & Beverage Ordering.
• Private Theatre Rentals at AMC.
• AMC Safe & Clean policies and protocols.

There is NO WORD YET on whether or not AMC has figured out how to construct an auditorium with aisle lights that don't shine across the bottoms of their screens...

Perhaps that is a trade secret that other cinemas have kept masterfully hidden from AMC (and Regal)?

[Frank Cox]

Bankrupt used to mean bust, out of business, piecing out and auctionioning of the assets underway.

Now it seems to be a legal strategy to throw loans and leases overboard, maybe lay off a bunch of staff, and then carry on with business as usual afterward. It isn't often that bankrupt actually means gone, it just leaves a lot of people holding the bag.