Renovations to the former flagship started years ago but accelerated over the past six months.
We needed to open this.
We had already put so much money into it.
Eduardo Acuna, CEO Cineword, Renovated Regal Times Square
I can tell you that it was significantly more than we expected.
It was significantly over budget.
But I also dont regret it.
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Because you have all these tourists walking around, and theyre like, Oh, Ive never seen this.
We dont have this in my hometown.
Its almost like going to a theme park.
The U.K. public company was delisted, leaving lenders in control, andthey tapped Acuna as the new CEO.
He previously ran the Americas operations of Mexican theater group Cinepolis.
Its a dream job.
Regal has always been a storied company.
When I joined the industry 20 years ago, Regal was the biggest [exhibitor] in the world.
Everybody aspired to work at Regal.
His focus our customers and our culture.
Internally, he noted the wear from Covid to Chapter 11 to the strikes.
With customers, We need to listen.
Some want plush recliners, others really cool immersive experiences.
There are some markets where you’ve got the option to go higher and people will pay.
For a family film, you have to pay for four or five tickets, or whatever.
Maybe youll bring in more families if the tickets are cheaper.
I think we need to do things to bring people out of their house.
Acuna replaced former CEO Mooky Greidinger, who built Cineworld into a giant through a series of acquisitions.
Cineworld is now private so doesnt report earnings.
We actually made a lot of money last year … We actually did better than we expected.
But he recalled that 2019 was a record-breaking year.
I dont think we havent recovered.
We just havent got record- breaking levels.
That doesnt mean were losing money.
One plus, well known, is that streamers like Apple and Amazon are releasing films theatrically.
The streamers have realized that a movie is perceived as a better movie if it was released in theaters.
And then it gets more views, more subscriptions and more retention on the streaming service.
A couple of studios are even lengthening their theatrical windows, he said.
Meanwhile,Dune 2this weekend is a big deal.
You know what it feels like?
And I dont want to make predictions.
But you know, when we had no movies, and then we hadTop Gun: Maverick?
And it feels very similar to that.
Because we have had no new movies for the past two months, right?
I dont know that its going to makeTop Gunnumbers.
But it feels like that, where people are like, We just need to go out.
We need to go see a movie.
And this is the perfect move to go out and see.
