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ArcLight Cinemas, Pacific Theatres Will Not Reopen After COVID-19 Closures

The Decurion Corporation announced on Monday that it will not reopen its six Pacific Theatre locations and 11 ArcLight Cinemas locations nationwide. Entertainment news website Deadline reported that Decurion is not bankrupt. However, the company has handed the keys to the locations back to their landlords, and the landlords can decide which keys it will keep or return to Decurion.

Along with other theaters (particularly in Los Angeles County), the Pacific Theatres and ArcLight Cinemas began closing operations over a year ago due to the ongoing new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Hollywood ArcLight Cinema and the older adjacent Cinerama Dome has hosted premieres and special screenings of many independent films — including Japanese anime and live-action films — and has served the local cinema community and industry for decades. The city designated the Dome as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1998, and the landmark has made notable cameos in films set in Hollywood itself, such as in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2019.

Arclight helped bring reserved seating, a fixture in other countries such as Japan, to American theaters. The chain also popularized other amenities such as premium seats and no late entry into theaters after the movie starts.

All six Pacific Theatres are located in Los Angeles County, and ArcLight Cinemas also has six locations in Los Angeles County, two in the Chicago area, one in San Diego, and one in Maryland.

Image via ArcLight Cinemas' Twitter account

Sources: Deadline (Anthony D'Alessandro), IndieWire (Chris Lindahl), Variety (Chris Pizzelo)