Did Regal Cinemas change owners? (1 Viewer)

[Rob Lutter]

The other night I went to go see Panic Room at Regal Cinemas and I noticed some subtile differences. The beverages have changed from Pepsi... to Coke! Even in the 3D theater trailer, the 3D Pepsi cups are now Coke cups. Also, on the side of the popcorn bad, there is a United Artists logo.
Were they bought out(presumably by United Artists)?
(good for me, I prefer Coke over Pepsi )

 

[MichaelAW]

I noticed this back in March, too. For all I know, they changed their franchise deal.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theater and Edwards Theaters are now all part of the same company, known as Regal Entertainment Group, which bills itself as the single largest motion picture exhibitor in the world. It's esssentially a new company that arose from the ashes of various bankruptcy proceedings by over-extended theater companies in 1999-2000.

M.

 

[Terrell]

So, they either merged or Regal bought them. It seems since they're under the Regal name, that Regal bought them.

 

[Michael Reuben]

So, they either merged or Regal bought them. It seems since they're under the Regal name, that Regal bought them.

None of the above. An investment group with interests in all three chains acquired them in bankruptcy and established a new combined entity.

M.

 

[Peter Kline]

Yeah! No more Brittney Spears Pepsi commercials before the flicks! I've been a Coca Cola (was going to say Coke) person myself so I'm happy not to have to drink Pepsi when in my local Regal. .

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

You can imagine my suprise when I went there the other night and ordered a Mountain Dew because that's my alternative to places that don't serve Coke. Well, then I get told that they don't carry Pepsi products anymore, only Coca-Cola. I asked the clerk, but she didn't have any idea. She said they just switched to Coke products.

Either way, I hope Regal can pull itself out of trouble because I do like their theaters over Hollywood Cinema's (which are the only two choices here). Which is kind of funny since Hollywood wants to build an UltraScreen theater here but have already said that if the local Regal gets yanked, it won't because they'd be afraid to take that large of a financial risk. Seems strange...you'd think that having no competition would propel them to build the theater over having to compete for dollars. Well, not my call.

Bruce

 

[Terrell]

I hope the Regal here in my area stays open. It is an incredible theater with 18 screens. They are about to add 4 more screens, so I'd say it's doing pretty good.

 

[David Rogers]

AAAhhhhh

This explains why when I showed up for a 7:05 Thursday screening of Big Trouble with my friend at 7:10, walking into the actual theater about 7:12-7:13, they were actually 30seconds into the movie (Puggy had just said "(crunch) You just can't beat these when they're fresh."), not just getting into the trailers. The Regal next to me used to be H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E about running commercials before the show. It would literally be ten minutes or more after scheduled movie-start before they even got to the trailers.

Hadn't heard Regal had changed out or been bought or whatever.

Sorry to see them in trouble, but I hate commercials. Doubly so at the movies. I do my part; I buy a ticket and a coke every time I go. Don't see why I should waste time being bored when I came to have fun.

 

[Seth Paxton]

And of course AMC just bought out General Cinemas too.

Consolidation is rampant within the world of exhibitors after the blasting they took in 1999-2000. I guess the Shrek, Monsters, Potter, Fotter runs were too late to salvage the books for a lot of companies.

These new versions sure are going to have some black on the books I would think. After those 4 films in 2001 they have Spider-Man, AOTC, Potter 2, and TTT all to bring in major dollars no matter what else plays well this year.