Back in the golden age of Hollywood the movie studios owned the entire economic chain of a film. An MGM movie would be conceived, written, produced, shot, and edited on studio property and then the film would be shown to the paying public at an MGM theater with all the proceeds going back to MGM and this was true for all the major studios. Minor studios and independent production companies had a devil of time getting their product to the public because even if there were independent theaters the studios used their enormous leverage to lock up the auditoriums for their own product. You want the next hit movie from 20thCentury Fox? Well then you have to take all Fox films including the lower half of their double bills know as ‘B’ features. This came to an end with the Paramount Decree in 1948 when using its anti-trust powers, the US Government forced the studios to sell off their exhibition businesses. In November of 2019 the Department of Justice announced it was withdrawing from the Paramount Consent Decree.
AMC Theaters is the largest movie theater chain in the world with more than 8200 screens in the United States alone. March 17th, 2020 AMC closed all of its theaters due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. April 2nd the Hollywood Reporter posted that the credit rating for AMC theaters had been downgraded amid concerns that it was unable to withstand the financial shock of the crisis and the closing of all theaters.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Disney doesn’t like anyone getting a cut of their cash.
I suspect that given that AMC was not in the best financial shape before the pandemic killed the summer released schedule and with the DOJ withdrawing from the Paramount Consent Decree that they will swoop in with their vast economic might and buy AMC theaters from the Chinese company that currently holds majority control. They probably will not lock out films from other production companies, after all why not get their beaks wet by tasting the profits from Universal and their other competitors?
I don’t know what final form the exhibition business will take but I do know it is going to change.
