ArcLight Cinemas said on Friday that it has tapped Ted Mundorff as the theater chain’s new president and chief operating officer.
Mundorff stepped down as the head of Landmark Theatres back in October. Mundorff led Landmark for 15 years through a period of growth and a rebranding. In addition to opening Landmark’s flagship locations in New York and Los Angeles, he was responsible for expanding the Landmark experience to Denver, Indianapolis, Washington, DC, and Miami.
His departure from Landmark came after the chain was acquired by Cohen Media Group in December 2018.
“I am excited to be working with Chris again, alongside the entire ArcLight team,” Mundorff said. “Since its founding, ArcLight has been a leading innovator in our industry, and I look forward to continuing to deliver meaningful movie-going experiences to guests across the country.”
Prior to Landmark, Mundorff served as vice president and film buyer at Pacific Theatres and ArcLight Cinemas. With Friday’s announcement Mundorff reunites with former colleagues, including Nora Dashwood, who served as Pacific’s and ArcLight’s chief operating officer from 2000 to 2015, and who currently serves as senior strategic advisor and board member of ArcLight’s parent company.
“I’m thrilled to be reuniting with Ted, an exhibition executive whose deep love of film and understanding of the customer experience will be critical to the future of our brand,” ArcLight CEO Christopher Forman said.
While major exhibition chains have found a way to thrive on the backs of blockbusters, the closures of a number of smaller independently owned cinema houses have been a sign of the struggles that the industry and their indie fare have faced recently.
Landmark’s sale to Cohen Media Group at the tail end of 2018 exemplified those challenges, as well as L.A.’s Laemmle Theatres shuttering its historic Music Hall cinema in November. The Laemmle chain was even on the block over the summer before the family-owned and operated chain decided against a sale. New York’s historic Paris Theatre was also shuttered last year before Netflix swooped in for a lease agreement to reopen it.