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edited by Annlee Ellingson<br />
FUND DRIVE(-IN)<br />
n Do you own a drive-in that hasn’t<br />
converted to digital yet? Not to worry:<br />
Honda is here to help!<br />
The car company has launched<br />
<strong>Pro</strong>ject Drive-In, pledging to buy digital<br />
cinema systems for five ozoners. The<br />
recipients were determined by a popular<br />
vote that closed September 9. But<br />
Honda has also started an Indiegogo<br />
campaign to raise money to help out<br />
additional drive-ins. That crowdfunding<br />
campaign ends on <strong>October</strong> 7.<br />
With Hollywood threatening to stop<br />
shipping 35mm prints domestically<br />
by mid-2014, only about 10 percent of<br />
drive-ins had converted to digital at<br />
the start of the year. To close the gap,<br />
NATO set up a virtual print fee-funded<br />
deployment especially for drive-ins<br />
through its Cinema Buying Group. Some<br />
56 drive-in theaters signed CBG VPF<br />
deals covering 145 screens. By mid-July,<br />
40 percent of all American ozoners had<br />
made the switch to digital.<br />
“Cars and drive-in theaters go handin-hand,<br />
and it’s our mission to save this<br />
decades-old slice of Americana that<br />
holds such nostalgia for so many of us,”<br />
says Alicia Jones, manager of Honda<br />
& Acura Social Marketing at American<br />
Honda Motor Co. “We’re committed to<br />
helping the remaining drive-in theaters<br />
flourish with the move to digital projection.”<br />
AMC IPO<br />
n Third time’s a charm. After two previous<br />
attempts to go public, AMC Entertainment has<br />
filed for another initial public offering. The nation’s<br />
second-largest theater chain seeks to raise<br />
$400 million, but the exhibitor hasn’t revealed<br />
how many shares it will issue or at what price.<br />
The Leawood, Kansas-based company says it<br />
may use the funds to expand and pay down<br />
some of its $2.1 billion debt.<br />
AMC previously filed for an IPO in 2007<br />
but withdrew that offering a year later amid<br />
declining sales and profits. This time around,<br />
revenue rose 2.6 percent to $1.34 billion<br />
during the first half of the year, and profit more<br />
than doubled to $41 million. The company<br />
last announced plans for an IPO in April 2012<br />
but reversed course again when China’s Dalian<br />
Wanda Group bought the chain for $2.6 billion,<br />
forming the world’s largest theater owner.<br />
Comprising 343 theaters and 4,937 screens<br />
primarily in North America, AMC enters a<br />
market bullish on exhibition: shares in Regal<br />
Entertainment Group are up 31 percent, and<br />
stock in Cinemark Holdings and Carmike Cinemas<br />
has risen 17 percent so far this year. The<br />
company will trade under the ticker symbol<br />
“AMC” on the New York Stock Exchange.<br />
ULTRASTAR TREK INTO CHINA<br />
n A small Southern California exhibitor is<br />
about to expand in a big, big way. UltraStar<br />
Cinemas has pacted with Letian Entertainment<br />
to develop and operate theaters in China.<br />
Under the deal, the U.S. circuit, which operates<br />
seven theaters in California and Arizona, and<br />
the subsidiary of Chinese broadcast network<br />
Hunan Broadcasting Station will jointly design,<br />
develop, construct, and operate digital cinemas<br />
4 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies OCTOBER <strong>2013</strong>
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