No surprise but David Ellison and team are exploring a sale of National Amusements, the movie theater chain that launched the Redstone family media empire and was run in its heyday, quite successfully, by Shari Redstone.
The asset sat alongside the Redstone’s stake in Paramount inside NAI, the family’s holding company. Paramount’s merger with Skydance closed today and the first step was Skydance acquiring NAI from Redstone for $2.4 billion, inheriting the Norwood, Massachusetts-based exhibitor along with the controlling interest in Paramount Global.
The future of National Amusements has been a question mark but it’s on the block. New Paramount President Jeff Shell said on the sidelines of a press event today that interest is “robust.”
The chain operates 759 screens in the U.S., U.K. and Latin America under its Showcase, Cinema de Lux, Multiplex, SuperLux and UCI brands. Locations span Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Ohio, as well as Argentina, Brazil and the U.K.
It offers theater rentals for meetings, sales conferences, product launches and private events and facilities include restaurants, cocktail lounges and food courts as well as concessions stands. All locations are accessible with assistance devices for the hearing and visually impaired. The chain was hit hard by Covid like the rest of the industry and has closed some theaters and struggled, although less than some. Historically, it tended to own much of the real estate its theaters were built on although that might not be the case anymore.
Theater operators in recent years have been open to acquisitions and say they look at everything but have tended to pick off individual theaters opportunistically, not whole chains. Exhibition CEOs from AMC Entertainment to Cinemark are asked about potential M&A every quarter.
As for studios, Netflix owns some marquee movie theaters including the Plaza in NYC and Sony Pictures acquired the Alamo Drafthouse circuit last summer. But, generally, they haven’t been rushing to do deals in the space.
The Paramount-Skydance merger closed this morning officially. The leadership started the process of outlining is future as a streamlined, tech forward, content rich media and entertainment company. They said planning is underway and they will have strategic details to share around third quarter earnings in November.
