The American parent company of Odeon Cinemas has been linked with a takeover from Amazon, as speculation bubbles up over the future of the chain.
AMC in the US had made headlines in the last week or two primarily off the back of its unhappiness with Universal Pictures, leading to a threat that it would refuse to play the studio’s movies on its screens. This is related to a dispute about Universal looking towards premium video on demand as an ongoing model for some of its releases.
However, before that, questions had sprung up over AMC’s ongoing future in the light of the debt it had been carrying. And a new report in – yeah, we know, the Daily Mail has suggested that one of the companies now sniffing around the AMC empire is Amazon.
Now these reports have been downplayed already, with Deadline for one reporting that no talks have taken place about a possible deal. But that didn’t stop shares in AMC Entertainment spiking, just off the mere possibility.
Not surprising either. It would give the AMC cinema chain financial certainty, and would allow Amazon a theatrical outlet for its own growing number of productions. What’s more, it’d made Amazon the owner of the Odeon chain of cinemas in the UK.
We wait to see if the interest comes to anything. As things stand, expect no shortage of further speculation surrounding the fate of multiplex chains, which have been hit – as you might expect – by the current situation. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more..
Deadline
Lead image: BigStock
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