Amazon cinemas al over the world

[Helmut Maripuu]

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...al-cinema.html

[Jim Cassedy]

Maybe some day I could order merchandise on Amazon & they'll deliver it to an Amazon Locker in the theater lobby while I'm watching a movie. Because of a security gate in my building, Amazon can't leave packages on my porch or in the vestibule if I'm not home, so I usually have my stuff sent to one of the Amazon Lockers at the 7-11 or Whole Foods near my home.

[Frank Cox]

Amazon certainly has the firepower to buy AMC, whose stock market value has collapsed in recent years to just $420million (£339million).

Since the article also says that AMC has a total of 10,000 screens, then each of their screens is currently valued at only $42,000?

I guess I don't understand the financial markets, because that's less than the cost of the projector at each location.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Write-off, debts, etc. Unless the thing is at least Chapter 11, you have to factor in all the outstanding debt, which you would assume, if you take over the thing.

But, really nobody could see this coming years back when Wanda Group took over AMC Theaters and then started to acquire one big chain after the other internationally? This was all financed with huge debts. All what was needed was a bad movie-summer back in 2017 and the thing almost imploded back then already.

But doesn't Amazon also have a Studio? Wasn't there a big anti-trust case that still forbids studios to operate theaters at a grand scale?

[William Kucharski]

I could completely see this in two variants:

1. See the movie at an Amazon theater, get the streaming version for free when it becomes available on Amazon Prime
2. See the movie at an Amazon theater, watch it again on Amazon Prime when you get home

Either would give Amazon a big step up over seeing it at a rival cinema chain.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I don't think Bezo's is aware of the big mess he is getting in to. AMC as a chain is a huge mess that has to be cleaned up in order to work and survive after this pandemic.

[Mitchell Dvoskin]

There are no anti-trust issues. The so called Paramount Consent Decrees only applied to the entities that agreed to them back in the late 1940s. Neither AMC nor Amazon were ever a party to the decrees.

Further, the US Justice Department formally ended the Consent Decrees a few years ago stating that the exhibition business is so different now than 1948, with the rise of multiplexes, that they are no longer needed.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Considering that Bezo's has made 30 BILLION off the Pandemic so far he can simply buy AMC with pocket change...

[Marcel Birgelen]

The last thing I read about Amazon wanting to buy stuff is them being interested in buying JCPenney... I associate JCPenney with big buildings in dead malls suffering from the 21st-century department store syndrome: Selling stuff all across the board, all of which can be had cheaper and with more options on-line. I'm not sure what Amazon wants with all that "prime" real-estate, but they can still convert them to Amazon fulfillment centers or data centers... and open up a cinema in them too, to compete against the dead-mall-cinema around the corner.

[Bobby Henderson]

Off topic regarding JCPenney, but I personally overwhelmingly prefer buying clothing and shoes in person in a real store. I don't care if it is in a dated 1970's style indoor mall building or in a trendy new "town center" style development. It's still fundamentally the same thing, just different "packaging."

I can't try on clothing or shoes online. And it's too much of a giant pain in the ass to send things back if they don't fit, don't look good, don't work as intended, etc. You don't get those hassles at a real brick and mortar store. Plenty of stores need to be in town and in person in a real damned building that can be visited by customers. If the only interest is selling things ever cheaper and moving all transactions to the Internet we will eventually all end up jobless going in that very narrow minded direction. Online operations are 100% about minimizing staffing and automating wherever possible. The philosophy is not about creating net job growth or even improving incomes. Too much of it is a digital version of race to the bottom economics.

Maybe Amazon understands some of the realities why in-person retail is still necessary. I'm skeptical about them buying JCPenney though even if they want some actual retail stores for people to visit.

Movie theaters need brick and mortar retail stores and other kinds of real store type businesses nearby to survive, such as restaurants. Theaters tend to do better in locations where there is a variety of "out of home" outlets of entertainment, dining and shopping. If everything is done online then movie watching can certainly be done 100% online too.

I think it's less probable Amazon would make a move to buy AMC. That theater chain is badly loaded down in debt. If Wanda Group jettisoned AMC and did a fire sale of the company Amazon could possibly move in to buy up some of the remains. Even before this pandemic it was obvious AMC was doing really bad. Staffing, upkeep and maintenance even at newer locations has gone to hell. That's certainly the case with our new-ish former Carmike 13+IMAX location. If anyone had complaints how bad Carmike was at cutting corners, like staffing levels, AMC has outdone that previous bad example.