ESCONDIDO — After months of negotiations and pleas from the community, the city’s only movie theater that was expected to close is here to stay.
In January, Regal Cinemas announced the impending closure of nearly 40 locations across the United States, including its Regal Escondido Stadium 16 and IMAX location in the Plaza Civic Center, 350 W. Valley Pkwy.
The closures followed news of Regal Cinema’s parent company, Cineworld, filing for bankruptcy in September 2022. The company saw a massive decline in the domestic box office during the COVID-19 pandemic, meanwhile, the monthly rent per theater increased by nearly 30% from 2019 to 2022.
The company recorded losses of $3 billion in 2020 and a $708.3 million in 2021, with a net debt of $4.84 billion.
City staff leapt into action almost immediately following the closure announcement, according to Jennifer Schoeneck, the city’s deputy director of economic development.
“As soon as we found out, we called the property owner to figure out how we could support and retain Regal,” she said.
Schoeneck also received an influx of phone calls from residents concerned and upset with the news of the movie theater’s closure.
“We really acted on behalf of what we were hearing from the community,” she said.
Through a joint initiative with the property owner, M.C. Strauss Company, along with support from the Downtown Business Association and the Greater Escondido Chamber of Commerce, the city convinced Regal to stay.
Schoeneck said the property owner did the “hard work” through negotiations in bankruptcy court to find agreeable rental terms that would convince Regal to stay. The city also offered financial assistance to the property owner for façade improvements, which will offset costs for repainting and repairing stucco within the shopping center where the theater is located.
City staff also wrote a letter to Regal in support of keeping the movie theater, which was signed by Mayor Dane White.
White said the movie theater provides young families like his own an opportunity to find entertainment — and a place to find relief from the summertime heat.
“It was unfortunate when they announced the movie theater was going to close,” he said. “It would have left a big, empty space that would have probably stayed that way for years and would have been detrimental to the entire shopping center.”
White also praised the property owner and city staff for their actions to save the movie theater.
“They worked hard to make this happen,” the mayor said.
