Sony Pictures Acquires Alamo Drafthouse in Lifeline to Cinema Chain

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Sony Pictures Entertainment is acquiring Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and will manage the theater chain’s 35 cinemas, marking the first time in more than half a century that a traditional Hollywood studio has gotten into the theater business. The deal, announced Wednesday, was made possible by the Justice Department’s decision in 2020 to rescind the so-called Paramount consent decrees — movie distribution rules dating to 1949 that forced the largest Hollywood studios to sell off their theater holdings. Those rules were intended to prevent studios from controlling the film business, from creation to exhibition. In 2019, the Justice Department’s then-antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, said changes in the entertainment industry “made it unlikely that the remaining defendants can reinstate their cartel.” Sony’s move to test that regulatory shift could open the door to similar deals by other leading studios. In recent years, Netflix, the leading streaming company, has bought theaters to show films. Alamo, the seventh largest theater chain in North America, operates theaters in 25 metro areas across the United States and has invested in distinctive programming and food offerings in an attempt to lure in moviegoers away from major multiplexes.