Wednesday, June 2, 2021

AMC Theatres considering acquiring "strongest" ArcLight Cinemas locations


There's a faint glimmer of hope on the horizon for the shuttered ArcLight Cinemas at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Rival AMC Theatres' CEO Adam Aron said yesterday on Twitter that his chain is considering acquiring the "strongest" ArcLight locations that were recently permanently closed due to pandemic losses. Aron said the potential expansion into ArcLight locations was one reason for a recent sale of AMC stock that netted the cineplex operator $230.5 million.

The CEO did not identify which ArcLight locations he considered the strongest, but said the ArcLight option is at the very top of his list for the newly-aggressive firm. "Watch out naysayers," Aron tweeted Tuesday, "$AMC is going to play on offense again. Here we come!" 

If the Montgomery Mall ArcLight were to become an AMC, it could be a great turn of events for the mall and moviegoers alike. Without the draw of the very-expensive ArcLight addition that topped a $90 million expansion and renovation over the last decade, the future of the mall is in serious question. And AMC's Dine-In theater model could easily fit into the existing setup at the ArcLight, bringing AMC's upscale entrees, milkshakes and MacGuffins Bar to the mall cineplex.

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