The curtain will not fall on Escondido’s only multi-screen movie theater, despite an announcement in January that it would be among about 40 Regal Cinemas locations to close nationwide.
City officials collaborated with the property owners, the Escondido Downtown Business Association, and the Greater Escondido Chamber of Commerce to keep the 16-screen theater on West Valley Parkway open, according to a news release Thursday.
“We are thankful that Regal Cinemas heard the community through our letters of support and decided to work with property owners to maintain the theater in the city of Escondido,” said City Manager Sean McGlynn.
The owners negotiated with the bankruptcy court and the cinema chain to revise rental terms, the release states.
“The city also offered to offset a small portion of the cost of the facade improvements to the property owner,” it states. “This financial support aims to offset the cost of repainting and repairing stucco within the shopping center, further enhancing the theater’s appeal to its patrons.”
Theaters across the country suffered a huge slump with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when mass gatherings were prohibited to stop the spread of the virus. Box office revenue remains down from pre-pandemic years, according to many reports, although summer is typically the strongest season for movies.
The ease of at-home internet streaming services continues to threaten traditional big-screen theaters.
Despite the changes, two big films released simultaneously over the weekend, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” drew large, if not record, crowds and gave industry leaders new hope. The success of the unlikely pair coined a widely heard portmanteu — “Barbenheimer” — for the phenomenon.
Still, the future is shaky for two other multi-screen Regal Cinemas locations in North County.
Developers have proposed razing the downtown Oceanside location on Mission Avenue, near the beach, and another in Oceanside’s Mission Marketplace shopping center at state Route 76 and College Boulevard. Both would be replaced by multi-story, mixed-use buildings with ground-floor retail shops and apartments on the upper floors.
Regal, a subsidiary of the Cineworld Group, has more than 500 theaters in 42 states along with the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam and Saipan, according to the company’s website.
The company declared bankruptcy at least once before, in 2001, but emerged reorganized and stronger.
Other Southern California Regal locations on the chopping block in the announcement earlier this year included theaters in El Cajon, Hemet, Yorba Linda, Costa Mesa and Sherman Oaks. An online check of those locations Thursday showed that only one, in Hemet, appeared to be closed. A nearby Regal in San Jacinto was open, showing “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” along with other attractions.
The theater chains AMC, Cinemax, Cinépolis and Ultrastar also have San Diego County locations.