In April 2021, a year after the initial COVID-19 onslaught, economically hobbled ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres called it a pandemic, and a day, and shut down.
Now, AMC Theatres has acquired the 14-screen Lincoln Park multiplex formerly under the ArcLight brand, and is eyeing a late spring 2022 reopening. This is amid continuing COVID-19 variants and ongoing economic and viral crises.
AMC announced the purchase Dec. 22, in tandem with its acquisition of a Pacific Theatres 10-screen location in Northridge, Calif. Earlier this year AMC bought two other Los Angeles-based multiplexes formerly owned by the ArcLight and Pacific parent company.
An AMC statement noted that “AMC continues to explore additional acquisition opportunities in key locations in the United States.” In late November Landmark Theatres parent company Cohen Media Group entered into a long-term lease agreement with the former ArcLight Glenview multiplex, dark since 2020.
Like the AMC-operated Lincoln Park venue, the Landmark-run 10-screen venue, part of the Glenview Town Center development, is targeting a spring 2022 reopening.
In the AMC release AMC chairman and CEO Adam Aron characterized the multiplex formerly known as the ArcLight 14, located in the NewCity retail/residential development in Lincoln Park, as a “high-traffic, successful location.” He added that recent AMC acquisitions prove that even in the imperiled theatrical exhibition business, AMC is “staying on offense.”
Aron and his fellow exhibition survivors will not, however, be able to rely on a new “Spider-Man” movie every couple of months, so they’ll have their work cut out for them.
More on reopening plans as they develop.
This story contains updated information on the former ArcLight Glenview multiplex.
Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
Twitter @phillipstribune
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