As Paramount chases $111-billion Warner Bros. acquisition, David Ellison sheds his theater chain
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The Ellison family-controlled Harbor Lights Entertainment has sold its Showcase Cinemas theater chain to a major European cinema group in a $30-million deal.
Belgium-based Kinepolis will soon operate 13 cinemas across the United States. Seven are in Massachusetts, four in New York, one in Ohio and one in Rhode Island.
David Ellison, who is now in charge of Paramount Skydance, acquired National Amusements last year from the Redstone family. He renamed the company Harbor Lights. National Amusements was the start of Redstone’s media empire, which at one point included control of CBS, Paramount and Viacom.
Ellison’s close ties to President Trump, and widespread concerns about the future of Hollywood, drive anxiety over the tech scion’s $111-billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Paramount is in the process of acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery in a $111-billion deal. Under the proposal, Ellison has said the two studios will release 30 films per year. But he and his team would also have to make $6 billion in cuts and take on $79 billion in deal debt.
The deal is awaiting regulatory approval, but officials in several states are making plans to try to block the merger. The potential lawsuit would seek to challenge the proposed merger on antitrust grounds, arguing it would decrease competition, lower wages and lead to widespread job losses.
With the sale of the theaters, Kinepolis will add 164 screens to its portfolio. The company was formed in 1997 and currently operates 63 cinemas in Europe and nearly 60 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.
The massive merger still needs approval by regulators in the U.S. and abroad; industry opposition has been growing.
The newly acquired theaters drew about 4 million visitors and generated more than $90 million in revenue last year.
“This acquisition allows us to expand our market position in the U.S. from Michigan to the East Coast with an asset and a team that enable us to implement Kinepolis’ operational model and corporate strategy, ultimately enhancing the experience for moviegoers in these markets,” Eddy Duquenne, Kinepolis’s chief executive, said in a statement.
The company said Showcase Cinemas would retain its name. It expects the acquisition to be complete by the end of the summer.
Times staff writer Wendy Lee contributed to this report.
