Regal Cinemas filing for bankruptcy

Thursday, Sept. 6, 2001 | 11:11 a.m.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Regal Cinemas, the nation's largest movie theater chain and a cinema operator in Las Vegas, said it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Bankruptcy is part of a restructuring plan that will shift ownership to a group led by Denver billionaire and Regal creditor Philip Anschutz.

Regal, like several other major movie chains, aggressively expanded in the late 1990s and ended up with too many theaters. The chain closed 98 theaters with 646 screens this year but still remains tops in North America with 3,898 screens in 338 locations.

Under the reorganization plan, Regal's unsecured creditors stand to recover up to 100 percent of their claims and theater operations were to be unaffected.

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