Free Republic

Movie theater executives don’t usually quote Winston Churchill on earnings calls. But during his company’s most recent quarterly report to analysts, AMC chief Adam Aron dusted off one of the prime minister’s most famous speeches to describe the financial cataclysm engulfing the exhibition industry and the resilient spirit he hopes will rise up to meet the challenge. “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills,” Aron said. A touch melodramatic? Perhaps, but Aron is correct in noting that cinemas...

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Heading into the new year, box office analysts were bullish that 2019 would beat, or at least match, the record-breaking success of last season. Followups to “Avengers,” “Secret Life of Pets” and “Godzilla” combined with reboots of storied franchises such as “Men in Black” and “Shaft” would elevate ticket sales to new heights, theater owners and studio executives predicted. Alas, it was not to be. Sure, everyone showed up to “Avengers: Endgame” to bid goodbye to Iron Man, but many of those other sequels sputtered out. They were derivative, shoddily constructed, and poorly...

As Hollywood wraps up the all-important summer box office season this Labor Day weekend, a sobering reality has gripped the industry. The number of tickets sold in the United States and Canada this summer is projected to fall to the lowest level in a quarter-century. The results have put the squeeze on the nation’s top theater chains, whose stocks have taken a drubbing. AMC Theatres Chief Executive Adam Aron earlier this month called his company’s most recent quarter “simply a bust.” Such blunt language reflects some worrisome trends. Domestic box office revenue is expected to total $3.78 billion for the...

Five commando units trained for strikes, sabotage North Korea dispatched covert commando teams to the United States in the 1990s to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in a conflict, according to a declassified Defense Intelligence Agency report. The DIA report, dated Sept. 13, 2004, reveals that five units of covert commandos were trained for the attacks inside the country. According to the report, the “Reconnaissance Bureau, North Korea, had agents in place to attack American nuclear power plants.” The document states that the North Korean Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, the ministry in charge of the military, “established...

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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A crowd of young people -- possibly drawn though social media -- interrupted the movies at The Edge 12 Movie Theater and were disruptive outside in the parking lot of Festival Shopping Center on Crestwood Boulevard Sunday night. About 400 people were involved, with 200 of them really disruptive, Birmingham Police East Precinct commander Capt. Allen Hatcher said Tuesday, based on reports he got from the off-duty Birmingham police officer who worked security at the theater that night. Movie-goer Shannon Webster, pastor of First Presbyterian Church downtown, said he counted 18 police cars when he and his...

HYDERABAD, India: The police continued to find and defuse bombs throughout the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Sunday, a day after a pair of synchronized explosions ripped through two popular gathering spots, killing at least 42 people and wounding scores of others. State and national officials are calling the blasts in Hyderabad, a city with a history of Muslim-Hindu tensions, acts of terrorism. After the attacks, the police defused 19 more bombs - all fitted with timers and placed in plastic bags - at bus stops, movie theaters, road intersections and pedestrian bridges. The police said each of the...

Crying Babies Wanted at Movie Theater NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bawling babies have ruined films for countless moviegoers but now one New York cinema is filling an entire theater with them in an effort to win the business of stir crazy parents who haven't gone out in years. About 100 urban mothers, and a few stay-at-home dads, checked their designer strollers at the door earlier this week to enjoy a rare baby-friendly flick. Scores of infants cooed and screeched as the lights dimmed, and one hallway in the Loews Cineplex quickly morphed into a diaper-changing room. But the parents, some...