Commonwealth Theaters, Inc. was a

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

chain based in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.

History

In 1936, Commonwealth purchased its headquarters in downtown Kansas City, part of a "film row" that hosted several regional

film distribution Film distribution (also known as Film exhibition or Film distribution and exhibition) is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the mark ...

companies. In 1983, Commonwealth went private through a merger with CMN Capital Corp. By 1984, Commonwealth was reported to be one of the largest movie theater chains in the country, with over 400 screens in 14 states.

Cannon and United Artists

Film production company

Cannon Group The Cannon Group, Inc. was an American group of companies, including Cannon Films, which produced films from 1967 to 1994. The extensive group also owned, amongst others, a large international cinema chain and a video film company that invested ...

announced in 1986 that it had agreed to purchase Commonwealth for $25 million in cash plus the assumption of $50 to $60 million in debt. At this time, Commonwealth was the sixth-largest theater chain in the country, comprising 425 screens in 12 states, with plans to open 70 more screens that year. Within six months, Cannon ran into serious financial problems. These problems led to Renta Immobiliarla S.A., a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

-based group controlled by Italian financier

Giancarlo Parretti Giancarlo Parretti (born 23 October 1941) is an Italian financier. In 1989, he took over Cannon Film Group Inc. from Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. Almost immediately, he made plans to take over the storied French studio Pathé, and changed Ca ...

, acquiring a significant stake in Cannon, and Cannon put Commonwealth up for sale. Renta subsequently acquired complete control of Commonwealth in January 1988. One month later, Renta announced the formation of a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with United Artists Theatres, a theater chain then controlled by Tele-Communications Inc. Under the terms of the joint venture, each party would control 50% of Commonwealth. Later press reports characterize the transfer of ownership as a purchase by United Artists, rather than a joint venture. By 1991, the downtown Kansas City headquarters building had closed. United Artists reportedly sold off many former Commonwealth screens on a market-by-market basis.

References

{{reflist Movie theatre chains in the United States Companies based in Kansas City, Missouri