Rave Cinemas, formerly known as "Rave Motion Pictures", is a

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

brand founded in 1999 and owned by

Cinemark Theatres Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (stylized as CineMark from 1998 until 2022 and in all caps since 2022) is an American movie theater chain that started operations in 1977 and since then it has operated theaters with hundreds of locations throughout the A ...

. It previously was headed by Thomas W. Stephenson, Jr., former CEO of Hollywood Theaters, and Rolando B. Rodriguez, former Vice President and Regional General Manager for

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and

northern Indiana Northern Indiana is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern third of the U.S. state of Indiana and borders the states of Illinois to the west, Michigan to the north, and Ohio to the east. Spanning the state's northe ...

. The chain was headquartered in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

until it was acquired by Plano-based

Company history

Rave Cinemas, LLC was formed in late 2009 by

TowerBrook Capital Partners TowerBrook Capital Partners, L.P. is an investment management firm headquartered in London and New York City. TowerBrook spun out of Soros Fund Management in 2005 and became known for acquiring majority stakes in companies such as Jimmy Choo. Man ...

and investors Lambert Media Group and Charles B Moss, Jr. Rave Cinemas then acquired four properties, corporate infrastructure, and leadership, and the Rave Motion Pictures brand from Boston Ventures owned Rave Reviews Cinemas, LLC (RRC). RRC continues to own 21 other properties which will operate under the "Rave Motion Pictures" branding under a management services agreement with Rave Cinemas, LLC. Concurrently with the RRC acquisition, Rave Cinemas, LLC, purchased the business operations and real estate of 35 properties owned by National Amusements, Inc. (NAI), parent company of

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2005), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Pa ...

and

CBS Corporation CBS Corporation was an American multinational media company with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing and television production. It was split from Viacom on December 31, 2005, alongside an entirely new Viacom; both ...

. The former NAI assets were rebranded "Rave Motion Pictures" in the second quarter of 2010. In October 2012, Rave Reviews Cinemas, LLC, signed an agreement to sell 16 theaters with 251 screens to

Carmike Cinemas Carmike Cinemas, Inc. was an American motion picture exhibitor headquartered in Columbus, Georgia. As of March 2016, the company had 276 theaters with 2,954 screens in 41 states, and was the fourth largest movie theater chain in the United State ...

for $19 million in cash and $100.4 million of assumed lease obligations. Of the 16 theaters being acquired, six are in Alabama, four in Florida, two in Indiana, and one each in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. Before the sale Rave owned or managed 62 theaters and 939 screens located in 21 states across the country. In November 2012, Cinemark entered into an agreement to purchase 32 Rave Cinemas locations for $240 million. The sale is subject to antitrust approval. Only two locations were to remain under the Rave Cinemas umbrella after the Cinemark sale was completed, however there was much speculation within the industry that these remaining two locations will either be sold or shuttered. On November 27, 2012,

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (doing business as AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC) is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered ...

entered into an agreement to purchase four Rave Review Cinemas, LLC theaters not purchased by Carmike Cinemas, Cinemark, or Starplex. Of the four theaters being acquired, two were in Louisiana, and one each in Alabama and Florida. On January 4, 2013, AMC Theatres entered into another agreement to purchase six more Rave Cinemas theaters not purchased by Carmike Cinemas, Cinemark or Starplex. Of the six theaters being acquired, two were in Ohio, one in North Carolina, one in Nevada, one in Nebraska and one in California. On May 10, 2013, Starplex Cinemas bought the Berlin 12 located in Kensington, CT from Rave Cinemas. On May 29, 2013, the sale of Rave Cinemas to Cinemark Theatres was completed. Cinemark was also required to sell the Rave Stonybrook 20 + IMAX theater in Louisville, Kentucky, the Rave Ritz Center 16 in southern New Jersey, and either the Rave Hickory Creek 16 in Hickory Creek, Texas or the Cinemark 14 in Denton, Texas due to the purchase of Rave Cinemas. In addition, Cinemark's chairman Lee Roy Mitchell was also required to sell the Movie Tavern Inc. to

Southern Theatres Southern Theatres was a movie theater chain based in New Orleans, Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and ...

. Some former Rave locations now have the Cinemark branding. On July 18, 2013, Carmike Cinemas announced that they will be buying the Stonybrook 20 & IMAX, Ritz Center 16 and the Hickory Creek 16 theatres from Rave Cinemas, a division of Cinemark. Cinemark kept the Cinemark 14 in Denton, Texas. With this change, Hickory Creek will remain with Screenvision. Louisville KY and Voorhees NJ will switch to

Screenvision Screenvision Media is a cinema advertising and film distribution company in the United States. The Screenvision Media cinema advertising network includes over 15,000 screens, more than 2,400 theatre locations, and 335 universities in every sta ...

from

National CineMedia National CineMedia, Inc. (NCM) is an American movie theater, cinema advertising company. NCM displays ads to U.S. consumers in movie theaters, online and through mobile technology. NCM presents cinema advertising across a digital in-theater netwo ...

. Because Cinemark retained the Denton location, it remained with National CineMedia. The sale was closed on August 16, 2013. On September 12, 2013,

announced that they acquired the Movie Tavern from Lee Roy Mitchell after he was required to sell the Movie Tavern after Cinemark bought Rave Cinemas on May 29, 2013. As a result, Cinemark opened their own dinner-and-a-movie theatres called Movie Bistro. This concept was launched in August 2013 and is currently at four Cinemark locations in Colorado, Louisiana, and Texas. The Movie Tavern will remain a brand of Southern Theatres. As part of Southern Theatres' long-term deal with National CineMedia, the Movie Tavern switched from Screenvision to National CineMedia in June 2014. As of December 2016, AMC now owns those former Carmike theatres, some of which are now AMC branded. The company also owned "Rave Digital Media" along with Continental Retail Development, with headquarters in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, and operated six properties under the "Rave Digital Media" brand. The Rave Digital Media brand was sold to AMC Theatres on January 4, 2013.

Amenities and features

Most theaters features multiple concession stands,

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

games, online and kiosk ticketing, and a futuristic environment with special lighting,

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liquid crystals do not em ...

menu In a restaurant, the menu is a list of food and beverages offered to the customer. A menu may be à la carte – which presents a list of options from which customers choose, often with prices shown – or table d'hôte, in which case a pre-est ...

and

film trailer A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

displays, and some have a stylized special event room. Every auditorium in Rave built theaters features the following: *DLP Cinema Projection * DTS digital

surround sound Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener ( surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to ...

Stadium seating Stadium seating or theater seating is a seating arrangement where most or all seats are placed higher than the seats immediately in front of them so that the occupants of further-back seats have less of their views blocked by those ahead of them. ...

*Reclining seat backs *Oversized luxury reclining seats *Retractable arm rests / cup holders / tray tables *18 inch rise to each row (to promote clear line-of-sight) *48 inches of excess space between each row (to add additional leg room) In addition, large auditoriums often feature two-floor exits with central seating for patrons with physical disabilities and elevator access. Several of the theaters are also equipped with Real D 3D cinema systems. Each newly opened building is completely digital in picture and sound. Properties acquired from National Amusements may not have all of the features or designs listed above.

Rave and Christie Digital

In June 2006, Rave Motion Pictures announced a partnership with Christie/AIX to install 445 digital cinema systems in its theaters. Several Rave theaters (including theaters in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

and

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...

) already have Christie systems installed; a full conversion of existing theaters was completed in August 2007. When Rave Cinemas acquired some theaters from National Amusements in late 2009 and early 2010, they used Barco projectors instead of Christie. With Rave Cinemas now owned by Cinemark, the Christie projectors will be removed and replaced with Barco projectors. At AMC Theatres, the Christie projectors (Barco projectors at Grove City 14) were removed and replaced by Sony 4K Digital Cinema except for the largest screens. At Carmike in Hickory Creek, Texas, the Christie projectors will be kept. At Carmike in Louisville, Kentucky and Voorhees, New Jersey, the Barco projectors will be removed and replaced with Christie.

References

External links

{{Major USA Cinema Chains Companies based in Dallas Economy of the Eastern United States Movie theatre chains in the United States American companies established in 1999 Entertainment companies established in 1999 1999 establishments in Texas 2013 mergers and acquisitions