"In a move that may return some leverage to the long-beleagured exhibition industry, Anschutz Corp. will consolidate its three theater
chains, Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theatre Circuit and Edwards Theatres, into one entity -- with Mike Campbell, CEO of Regal Cinemas,
crowned as CEO of the combined theater operations. Anschutz Corp. has named United Artists CEO Kurt Hall to helm a second company to manage new initiatives, according to Campbell and Hall. Campbell will run the exhibition company -- to be made up of the 20% of the U.S. theater screens acquired in the past 18 months by Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz -- from Regal's Knoxville, Tenn., headquarters. Hall's company, yet to be named, will focus on the company's advertising, digital strategy and satellite network operations from UA's Denver headquarters. Regal chief operating officer Greg Dunn will continue in that role in the combined theater exhibition company. Industry sources say Anschutz Corp. looked to Regal, which emerged from bankruptcy Tuesday, to manage the combined theater operations because of the company's experience integrating companies."

Let me get this straight.

Mike Campbell -- a career Regal man who saw Regal bloat to something the size of Enron -- as CEO of the combined Regal/UA/Edwards?

I worked Atlantic Palace 10, Alhambra Place 5, Temple City 4 and
a 10 plex near Magic Mountain.

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Well, probably nothing. It just mirrors current business trends in general where smaller companies can't survive without merging with or being acquired by larger companies. Market reality.

My comment about Edwards is prompted only because I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Edwards, and I saw his regional chain grow from 1 theater (the 1-screen Edwards Cinema in Costa Mesa) into the dominant player in the area south of Los Angeles. Edwards saw that Orange County was going to experience phenomenol growth and staked his theater fortune on servicing that market. Mr. Edwards had ties to the movie business and he also appreciated showmanship. Right up until I left CA in 1990, their new construction always had waterfall curtains, and they stubbornly resisted "slide shows" which everyone else was doing by that time. Most of these neighborhood multiplexes had 1 screen equipped for 35/70mm. But they got carried away with building neighborhood theaters on every corner. Looking at their online theater directory, it looks like half their locations have been closed, even ones that weren't all that old.

Just being sentimental I guess.

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- dave
Avoid the meadow...

But...what about locations that are within several miles of one another??? Does it really make sense to compete against yourself? Or am I missing something?

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I believe many of Regal's problems stemmed from a very poor real estate department that literally put them everywhere.