That Logo's Looking More Like A Bulls Eye Lately

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 20, 2005 5:07PM

Your favorite small-screen theater might have a “Closed” or “For Sale” sign on it soon thanks to the AMC/Loews merger.

Over the summer, we told you that AMC and Loews would be merging Voltron-like into a super-mega movie theater chain in 2006. At the time, an AMC spokesperson said they didn’t anticipate any theater closings. Now we know there was probably a Loews spokesperson standing off to the side, whistling innocently.

A couple months ago, Chicagoist noticed that the Burnham Plaza theater closed up shop after years of neglect. Then yesterday, the Chicago Tribune reported that Loews has terminated its lease on the six-screen Lincoln Village theater. The property was sold to Village Theatres, Inc., which operates 100 screens in five states. Village Theatre exec Ron Rooding speculated that AMC doesn’t like operating small theaters or those that don’t make money. (Chicagoist speculates that Ron Rooding loves the fact that his name sorta sounds like a porn star).

Loews and AMC will likely continue to close or sell off small or underperforming theaters to make nice with antitrust regulators. Loews has four theaters with six screens or less: the Esquire and Piper’s Alley in Chicago, the Chicago Ridge 6 and North Riverside 6. AMC has just one: the single-screen Yorktown Premium in Lombard. Which ones will be around to show Rocky VI? Only time will tell.

Chicagoist didn’t cry when the Burnham Plaza closed (we're on record with hatin' on that place) but losing the Esquire or Piper’s would mean fewer screens for mainstream art house films. And we already know how AMC feels about films with “limited commercial appeal.” Is it too much to ask that Mrs. Rooding had more than one film-geek progeny?