Business

AMC Entertainment buys former ArcLight Cinemas on Causeway Street

The theater is expected to open in early spring.

AMC Entertainment has purchased the former ArcLight Cinemas at The Hub on Causeway. Suzanne Kreiter / Boston Globe

December 27, 2022

MOVIES

AMC Entertainment purchased the former space of ArcLight Cinemas on Causeway Street after the latter closed its doors amid the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns in 2020.

The acquisition was announced in a press release from AMC last week, as the company reported a gross gain of $162 million since launching its AMC Preferred Equity Stock earlier this year.

In a statement, Adam Aron, chairman and CEO of AMC Entertainment, said the company is using the cash to pay down debts and acquire new theaters.

“AMC reduced debt for the third time this year, including most recently by buying back debt at a substantial 61 percent discount and is able to contemplate various opportunities to add theatres to our fleet including just having successfully secured for AMC the attractive former ArcLight Boston,” Aron said.

The 13-screen theater at The Hub on Causeway is essentially “brand new,” according to AMC. The space opened in December 2019 and closed only three months later as the pandemic set in, not to reopen again.

ArcLight, the Los Angeles movie theater company, announced in April 2021 none of its locations would reopen after it determined it did not “have a viable way forward.”

The company was best known for offering a premium movie-going experience, having pioneered amenities such as reclining seats, high-end concessions, and reserved seating since launching in 2002.

AMC currently operates two theaters in Boston: A downtown one alongside the Boston Common on Tremont Street and another at the South Bay Center in Dorchester. The company also has locations throughout Greater Boston, including at Assembly Row in Somerville.

The acquisition announcement comes months after Alamo Drafthouse Cinema said in July that it will open its first-ever New England location at the space previously occupied by ShowPlace Icon Theatre at 60 Seaport Blvd.

Similar to ArcLight, ShowPlace ICON said in March 2021 it would not reopen after closing during the pandemic, only three years after opening its doors.

A spokesperson for AMC told The Boston Globe the company’s Causeway Street location is expected to open by early spring 2023.