Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios is looking into a possible bid for Landmark Theatres, which is up for sale, Nellie Andreeva reports in an exclusive for Deadline.
The report quotes Allen saying: “We are pursuing the acquisition of numerous companies that have excellent management and brands in distribution, content, cable networks and technology. Yes, we are looking at all opportunities including the Landmark Theatres.”
Andreeva notes that it’s early in the process, and adds: “News broke yesterday that Netflix was looking at the chain at one point, however, we understand those talks (which occurred quite a while ago) never went beyond a lunch to literally looking at the books. In the case of Entertainment Studios, this is a scenario where they’re reportedly looking at Landmark’s books. No word of talks yet.”
The chain is owned by Wagner/Cuban companies, a partnership of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner. Landmark has about 53 venues and 255 screens.
I used to love Landmark Theaters, but since the advent of digital cinema, quite often they can be found showing their films from conventional Blu-ray disc, and even at times a DVR! I went to one screening at a theater in Denver where the movie shown had a prominent “HDNet Movies” logo in the corner.
Except for screen size you really can do better at home these days.