Sundance Cinemas has signed a purchase agreement with AMC Theatresto acquire the Kabuki 8 Theatre in San Francisco.
Sundance Cinemas anticipates a late April takeover of theproperty, which will undergo a significant facelift following the San FranciscoInternational Film Festival, with plans to re-open in early autumn 06 as theSundance Kabuki.
The announcement marks the second location for the nationalexhibition venture. SundanceCinemas has also begun construction on a six-screen cinema in Madison,Wisconsin, which is set to open in November.
"As San Francisco holds a special place in my heart and isone of the nation's great centres of independent film, I am particularlyexcited to have found such a perfect home for Sundance in this city,"Sundance Group president Robert Redford said.
"The Kabuki is a dream location for Sundance," SundanceCinemas chief executive officer Paul Richardson added.
"The theatre has a great location central to all of SanFrancisco and we are very pleased to be part of the Japan-town community."
Kabuki 8 was one of ten theatres required by the United StatesDepartment of Justice and the attorneys general of California, the District ofColumbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington to be sold by AMCTheatres following its merger with Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corporation.
"Kabuki 8 has been in the AMC family since the mid 1980s, andwhile we'll miss being a part of the great community where the theatre islocated, we're pleased about the theatre's future with Sundance Cinemas,"AMC chairman and chief executive officer Peter C Brown said.
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