AMC Theatres has reached a lease agreement with Westfield Montgomery Mall owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield to reopen the Bethesda, Maryland, shopping center’s cineplex.
The ArcLight Cinemas at Montgomery Mall permanently closed last spring. It will reopen sometime in March as AMC Montgomery 16 at Westfield Montgomery.
AMC also signed a lease to reopen a former ArcLight Cinemas in La Jolla, California, at an outdoor shopping center also owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. It will reopen as AMC UTC 14 at Westfield UTC.
“AMC continues to play offense and aggressively seek out opportunities to strengthen our company through strategic acquisitions,” AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron said.
The Bethesda and La Jolla additions bring the number of former ArcLight/Pacific theaters that AMC has taken over to six.
The Decurion Corp., which owned ArcLight and Pacific, said last April it was unable to find a viable way forward to reopen its theaters. They have been closed since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
The Montgomery Mall cineplex opened under the ArcLight brand in 2014 as part of a larger redevelopment of the property.
AMC, which weathered its own financial struggles during pandemic theater closings, has about 950 theaters globally.
