posted 12-24-2003 12:17 PM                    

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12-screen cinema sold in Enfield
12/23/2003
By MARCIA BLOMBERG Staff writer
mblomberg@repub.com

ENFIELD - The 12 movie screens at the Westfield Shoppingtown mall were sold last week by Northeast Cinemas to National Amusements, the owner of Showcase Cinemas.

The purchase price was not disclosed. National Amusements also last week purchased a 16-screen multiplex at Providence Place Mall in Rhode Island from Northeast Cinemas, the corporate descendant of Hoyts Cinemas Corp.

National Amusements spokeswoman Jennifer Maguire Hanson said the name of the theaters will be the Enfield Square 12, and the employees will be retained.

"We have long histories in operating theaters both in the Connecticut and Providence, R.I., markets, and they both seem like good opportunities for us. It made smart financial sense," Hanson said of the purchase.

National Amusements already owns cinema complexes in Western Massachusetts in West Springfield (15 screens), in Springfield at Eastfield Mall (16 screens) and at Springfield Cinemas on Wilbraham Road (12 screens), and in Connecticut in East Windsor (12 screens), Manchester (16 screens) and East Hartford (14 screens).

Hoyts Cinemas Corp., a subsidiary of an Australian movie theater chain, sold 52 of its 97 theaters in the U.S. to Regal Entertainment Group last March, for $200 million. It also sold its corporate identity at that time.

The remaining operation is now called Northeast Cinemas, based in Boston, according to Daniel Vieira, senior vice president of operations for Northeast Cinemas.

The Australian media firm Consolidated Press Holdings continues to own the operation.

The sale to Regal Entertainment was part of a plan by Hoyts to sell its U.S. movie theaters business. A Hoyts spokesman at the time said the 45 remaining theaters in the Northeast would be sold eventually.

Vieira said some of those 45 theaters were closed and others were sold to independent operators. Northeast Cinemas now operates 28 theaters with 220 screens in New England, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.

Vieira said yesterday that he was not aware of any current plans to sell the rest of the theaters.

As for the decision to sell the Enfield theaters, Vieira said: "We're always exploring business opportunities. I guess it was the right situation to go ahead and sell it."

Hoyts built the 60,000-square-foot theater complex in 1998.

National Amusements, based in Dedham, operates Showcase Cinemas and Multiplex Cinemas, with about 1,400 screens in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Latin America.

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