Boxoffice® Pro - August 2013

EXHIBITION BRIEFS
POPCORN AND VINO
n Alamo Drafthouse has beer on tap and now new
signature wine by the glass and by the bottle inspired
by Jonathan Demme’s 1991 Oscar-winning The Silence
of the Lambs. The Cannibal Chianti is a DOCG wine from
a vineyard between Florence and Sienna, and the Suit
Yourself Pinot Grigio is a 2012 vintage with a mixture of
fruit from California’s Central Cost and inland vineyards.
The new vinos follow the Princess Bride-inspired wines
that Alamo sold last year.
“Even before we launched the Bottle of Wits series
last year, we knew we had to reference what is in my
opinion the most iconic wine moment in movie history,
Hannibal Lecter’s now famous food-pairing advice,”
says Alamo CEO and founder Tim League.
The Silence of the Lambs wines are available at www.
silenceofthelambswines.com and at Alamo Drafthouse
locations. In addition, Cannibal Chianti and Suit Yourself
Pinot Grigio have been featured at Silence of the Lambs
feasts at select Alamo locations nationwide created by
the Austin location’s chef Trish Eichelberger.
to go digital by the end of the year, leaving fewer than 30,000 screens of
the world’s 130,000 total to convert.
ROOM WITH A VUE
n European exhibitor Vue Entertainment has been sold to a couple of
investors from a British commonwealth. Canadian investment groups
OMERS Private Equity and Alberta Investment Management Corporation
will buy the multiplex operator for $1.45 billion from private equity
firm Doughty Hanson, which purchased Vue in 2010 for $700 million.
Since then, Doughty Hanson also acquired Britain’s Apollo Cinemas,
Germany’s second-largest exhibitor CinemaxX, and Poland’s second-largest
circuit Multikino. The exhibitor also built new cinemas, including
two of the United Kingdom’s highest-grossing cinemas: Vue Westfields
in London and Stratford City. The expansions doubled the number of
Vue theaters from 70 to 146 and nearly doubled its screens from 678 to
1,321.
“We are delighted to be embarking on the next phase of our journey
with OPE and AIMCo, who share our vision of driving attractive growth
and investment returns by consistently delivering excellent entertainment
experience for our customers,” says Vue founder and CEO Tim Richards,
who will retain equity in the company and continue to manage the
chain. “As the company moves forward, I am confident that we will do so
from a position of real strength. We will continue to build on this success
by innovating, enhancing and growing the business through our continuing
plan for organic growth supplemented by strategic acquisitions.”
IMAX EXPANDS
n Imax continues to expand across the globe with new theater deals in
the United Kingdom, Berlin, Russia and India.
The large-format firm has inked with Cineworld, the United Kingdom’s
top chain, to add three Imax theater systems in new construction
projects including Telford and Broughton. The deal will bring the
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