 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Defunct | 2021 |
| Fate | Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation |
| Headquarters | |
| Products | Motion pictures,movie theaters |
| Owner | The Decurion Corporation |
| Website | pacifictheatres |
Pacific Theatres was an American chain of movie theaters in theLos Angeles metropolitan area ofCalifornia. Pacific Theatres was owned byThe Decurion Corporation which also owned and operatedArcLight Cinemas. In 2008, it sold its store locations in San Diego toReading Cinemas. In April 2021, Pacific Theatres announced they would not be reopening any of their theater locations after being closed since March 2020 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. In June 2021, the company filed forChapter 7 bankruptcy.[1] Following the closure, some former Pacific locations were acquired byAMC Theatres.
The Forman family founded Pacific Theatres in 1946 and continued to own and operate the company through its Decurion Corporation through its closure in April 2021.
The company had some 300 movie screens in California. Pacific also once operated manydrive-in theaters, including in thePacific Northwest region. They operated the last drive-in inLos Angeles County, the Vineland Drive-In located in theLa Puente area.[2] Pacific Theatre also owned the Valley 6 drive-in theatre inAuburn, Washington, which was the last operating drive-in from the United Theatre chain that Pacific ran in the Northwest from the 1950s; it was closed at the end of the 2012 season.
The company acquired many theaters inHollywood, California over the years, includingthe Pantages in 1965,[3]Warner Theatre andNew View Theatre in 1968,[4][5]Vine Theatre in the 1970s,[6] andHolly Cinema in 1985.[7]
Pacific was also one of the first theatres to have Samsung Onyx screens, introduced in 2018.[8]
Pacific Theatres was active in real estate development through its Robertson Properties Group, which was originally formed to re-develop former Pacific drive-in theaters. Today Robertson Properties currently acquires and develops retail, office, and residential properties. Developments included theatres atThe Grove at Farmers Market in Los Angeles. The other 20 drive-ins in the Northwest that were owned by United Theatre, were redeveloped by Robertson Properties in the 1980s and early 1990s.
On March 17, 2020, Pacific Theatres closed all of its theater locations, including ArcLight Cinemas, to comply with COVID-19 public health mandates. In March 2021, when COVID-19 restrictions were eased in Los Angeles County to allow movie theatres to reopen, all of the Pacific Theatres and ArcLight Cinemas locations notably remained closed. On April 12, 2021, Pacific Theatres announced that it would cease operations permanently, stating "this was not the outcome anyone wanted, but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward."[9]
On June 18, 2021, Pacific Theatres filed forChapter 7 bankruptcy.[1]
On July 19, 2021,AMC Theatres announced that it would acquire the leases to the Americana at Brand in downtown Glendale and The Grove at west 3rd Street in Los Angeles locations and that they would reopen in August of that year as part of the AMC chain. The company has not ruled out acquiring the leases of other Pacific Theatres locations.[10] In December 2021, AMC Theatres also announced that they had acquired the lease to the former location atNorthridge Fashion Center inNorthridge, Los Angeles, which opened in July 2022.[11][12]
In 2007, Reading International Inc purchased 15 theatres within the Pacific chain in California andHawaii, and on February 22, 2008, becameReading Cinemas,[13] with the exception of the Hawaiian theatres, which remained under theConsolidated Theatres banner.[14] The chain's remaining theatres are located only within the greater Los Angeles area,Orange County, andSan Diego.
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