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

brand founded in 1999 and owned by

Cinemark Theatres Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (stylized as CineMark from 1998 to 2022 and CINEMARK since 2022) is an American movie theater chain that started operations in 1984 and since then it has operated theaters with hundreds of locations throughout the Americ ...

. 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 from the United States, headquarter ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

and

northern Indiana Northern Indiana is a region of the U.S. State of Indiana, including 26 counties which border the states of Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. Northern Indiana is also considered part of the Great Lakes Megalopolis. The area is generally classified i ...

. The chain was headquartered in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

until it was acquired by Plano-based

Company history

Rave Cinemas, LLC was formed in late 2009 by TowerBrook Capital Partners 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 and

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, an ...

. 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 was a 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 States. The company ...

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, New Jersey, 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. ( d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fo ...

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 VSS-Southern Theatres, L.L.C. (aka Southern Theatres) is a movie theater chain based in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It was founded by George Solomon in May 2002. It operates two brands; The Grand Theatre, and AmStar Cinemas. The Grand ...

. 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 stat ...

from National CineMedia. 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 state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

, 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 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. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but i ...

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

and

film trailer A trailer (also known as a preview, coming attraction or attraction video) is a commercial advertisement, originally for a feature film that is going to be exhibited in the future at a movie theater/cinema. It is a product of creative and techni ...

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 sur ...

Stadium seating Stadium seating or theater seating is a characteristic seating arrangement that is most commonly associated with performing-arts venues, and derives its name from stadiums, which typically use this arrangement. Description In stadium seating, ...

*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 A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders, blindness, epilepsy ...

and elevator access. Several of the theaters are also equipped with

Real D RealD 3D is a digital stereoscopic projection technology made and sold by RealD. It is currently the most widely used technology for watching 3D films in theaters. Worldwide, RealD 3D is installed in more than 26,500 auditoriums by approximately 1 ...

3D cinema 3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. They have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion pict ...

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 the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria Metropolitan Area in Centr ...

and

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in th ...

) 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