Amc Entertainment Corp

"We're fixing that." That's the refrain from Gerardo "Gerry" Lopez, who was installed last month as chief executive at AMC Entertainment Inc., about how the second-biggest movie theater chain in the country must adapt to keep pace with shifts in consumer habits. Lopez has a few opinions -- not all of them kind -- about the movie theater business, which hasn't radically changed the way it does business in decades.

Would you like an espresso and a biscotti to go with your Milk Duds? Reaching outside the insular movie theater business, AMC Entertainment Inc. named Gerardo Lopez, a former executive at Starbucks Corp. and Seattle's Best Coffee, as chief executive. He succeeds Peter Brown, who is retiring after 19 years with the Kansas City, Mo., movie theater chain. Lopez also has been a manager at Frito-Lay, Pepsi-Cola and Procter & Gamble Co.

Amid the tightening credit market, theater operator AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. has pulled the plug on its planned initial public offering. The Kansas City, Mo.-based company, whose lead investors include JP Morgan Partners and Apollo Management, said Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it was withdrawing its $500-million stock offering.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. won a federal appeals court ruling, sending back to a lower court a lawsuit over changes required at its stadium-style movie theaters to accommodate people using wheelchairs. AMC, the Kansas City, Mo.-based theater operator controlled by J.P.

For moviegoers who'd like to cram and see all the best picture nominees the day before the Academy Award ceremony, AMC Theatres is offering the chance to catch all five in one place on Feb. 24. For $30, ticket buyers will receive an all-day pass to see "Babel," "The Queen," "The Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima" and "Little Miss Sunshine" -- and a large popcorn and soda with daylong free refills of both items. Advance tickets go on sale Friday.

As Hollywood gears up for an expected blockbuster summer season, two of the biggest movie theater chains are offering a rare double feature: themselves. In an initial public offering last week, exhibitor Cinemark Holdings Inc. sold shares worth $532 million. AMC Entertainment Inc. plans to launch an even bigger IPO this week, estimated at as much as $789 million.

Sometimes the show doesn't go on. AMC Entertainment Inc. yanked its planned $789-million initial public offering from the stock market Thursday rather than cut the proposed share price in response to tepid investor demand at its asking price, analysts said. It was the largest IPO to be scuttled this year, and the cancellation came on the heels of a chilly reception for newly public rival Cinemark Holdings Inc.

Theater chain AMC Entertainment Inc. on Monday reported its first annual profit in 10 years, thanks to its acquisition of rival Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp. and an advertising partnership's initial public offering. AMC parent Marquee Holdings Inc. reported earning $134.1 million during the fiscal year ended March 29, compared with a $190.1-million loss during the same period a year earlier. Revenue increased 46% from $1.69 billion.

Will the second time be the charm? Movie theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., owned by investors led by private equity firms J.P. Morgan Partners and Apollo Management, filed Wednesday to raise as much as $500 million in an initial public offering of stock. AMC had planned a $789-million initial offering in May before withdrawing the issue after investors balked at the proposed $17-a-share IPO price. A month later, J.P. Morgan and Apollo said AMC's parent, Marquee Holdings Inc.

Imax Corp., the operator of giant-screen movie theaters, announced plans Friday to install 100 digital projection systems in AMC Entertainment Inc. theaters. Shares of Imax, based in Mississauga, Canada, climbed $2.68, or 58%, to $7.32, its biggest gain ever. The deal would double the number of Imax screens in North America, adding momentum to the company's effort to introduce digital projection systems, which it plans to release in mid-2008.