Regal to Reopen Former ArcLight Movie Theater in Pasadena

Pamela McClintock
Updated ·2 min read

After three long years of being dark, the former ArcLight movie theater at The Paseo outdoor mall in Pasadena will once again welcome patrons.

Regal Cinemas said Thursday it has entered into a lease agreement with Onni Group to operate the 14-screen theater, which closed in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 crisis and never reopened after parent company Pacific Theatres shut all of its Pacific and ArcLight locations.

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The exact reopening date for Regal Paseo has yet to be announced.

The announcement comes just two days after movie theater giant and Regal parent company Cineworld formally filed its recently unveiled reorganization plan allowing it to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the very near future. It said its goal remains to do so by midyear.

It’s not uncommon for companies going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy to strike deals that are considered part of the normal course of business, or fall within other parameters. Regal didn’t immediately respond to a query as to whether it had to seek permission to sign the lease.

“The Paseo development has long been the entertainment destination for Pasadena; however, since 2020, it has been missing one important element, a state-of-the-art theatre,” Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger said in a statement. “In collaborating with our new partners at Onni Group, we are proud to be the new operators of Regal Paseo with exciting upgrades to the theatrical experience forthcoming for this destination location.”

The upscale outdoor mall is located at the intersection of East Colorado Boulevard and South Marengo Avenue, adjacent to the Pasadena Convention Center.

In January, Cineworld said it intended to close 39 Regal locations across the United States, including the busy Union Square Stadium 14 in New York City and the Sherman Oaks Galleria cinema in Los Angeles (the Sherman Oaks site was also a former ArcLight location).

Cineworld said the cost-cutting measure was expected to save the company $22 million in costs, and that many of the locations have been underperforming from a revenue perspective in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

But sources outside of the company told The Hollywood Reporter they would be very surprised if all of these locations would actually close — particularly those at Union Square and Sherman Oaks — and suggested that Cineworld Regal was hoping for more lenient lease terms. Union Square is one of the busiest cinemas in the country.

As of today, Regal indeed continues to operate the Union Square and Sherman Oaks locations, and there have been no additional statements from Cineworld regarding their status.

Last fall, Regal shuttered at least a dozen other locations. Before the Chapter 11 filing, the circuit operated roughly 500 Regal cinemas in the U.S. Now there are 457 sites.

 

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