Until the pandemic hit, cinema had been a growth medium globally. The global screen base exceeded 200,000 screens in 2020 for the first time and has almost doubled in less than 20 years. Ster-Kinekor, a successful operator and credited with the invention of the multiplex cinema, operates 55 commercial cinema complexes in South Africa and seven in neighboring Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In South Africa, leading exhibitor Ster-Kinekor filed for voluntary business rescue in February 2021. Not finding a buyer, SMG has now filed to exit bankruptcy protection. Studio Movie Grill (SMG), also a dining cinema circuit with 33 sites and which benefited from a $75m investment in 2018, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2020. Operations will continue almost as normal during the protection process, with only a few underperforming sites having to close. The filing is part of a wider asset purchase agreement with a current investor, Altamont Capital Partners, as well as a new backer Fortress Investment Group.įounder Tim League, who became chairman in 2020, will remain involved with the company and is among the lender group buying the assets. In the US, the well-known and innovative in-dining theater circuit Alamo Drafthouse has also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. GSC’s acquisition of MBO’s assets is based on a firm belief in the future of cinema as a medium, and in their view, is timed to coincide with an upturn in the business thanks to vaccine availability and a reopening of cinemas worldwide. It also operates in Vietnam where it has 108 screens in 18 locations through a partnership with Galaxy Studio. Currently, GSC operates 344 screens in 34 locations in Malaysia. GSC signed deal on Februand is expected to complete the deal at the end of June 2021. Leading Malaysian exhibitor Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC), which is owned by PPB Group, is acquiring the majority of cinema assets from the operators of fellow circuit MBO Cinemas, which is currently undergoing a creditors’ voluntary winding-up.
Exhibitors are reworking finances as cash runs out The effects of enforced cinema closures, cash reserves being depleted, exhibitors going into bankruptcy protection, circuit consolidation and trimming, a lack of content to play, older screens no longer being viable, and reduced investment in refurbishment are beginning to be felt.
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