Amazon Explores Acquisition of Landmark Theatres (Report)

Deal would grab Amazon 50 theaters in major markets like New York and Los Angeles

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Amazon is exploring an acquisition of the indie cinema chain Landmark Theatres, according to a Bloomberg report on Thursday.

The deal would bring about 50 movie theaters into the tech giant’s fold, including in high-profile markets like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

Amazon — which is set to spend in the neighborhood of $5 billion on content this year — would add 245 screens to showcase its latest movies. Terms of the potential deal were not reported by Bloomberg.

Landmark, co-owned by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner, has been open to a sale for several months, after CEO Ted Mundorff told TheWrap in April that the exhibition chain was on the block.

Amazon and Landmark did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

Similar to Amazon opening bookstores after the Seattle-based juggernaut wiped out most of its bricks-and-mortar competition, the company would be jumping into the theater business as it grapples with a downturn of its own.

In a recent survey from the MPAA, attendance among frequent moviegoers in a key 18-to-24 years old demographic was down 28 percent last year, compared with 2016. Attendance among teens who frequent the cineplex was down 22 percent.

Overall, box office revenue from 2017 was down nearly 3 percent, compared with 2016 — even as the average ticket price rose 4 percent to $8.97.

Amazon’s move towards physical stores was accelerated last year with its $13.7 buyout of Whole Foods.

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