Major shareholder conceded that Wanda's AMC is close to acquiring the fourth-largest theater operator in the United States

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Dreihaus Capital, which owns 10% of the company's shares, said in the afternoon of the same day that it would vote in favor of the acquisition offer issued by Wanda's AMC theater line. Dreihaus Capital, which owns 10% of the company's shares, said in the afternoon of the same day that it would vote in favor of the acquisition offer issued by Wanda's AMC theater line.

On Thursday local time, shares of Carmike, the fourth-largest theater operator in the United States, rose 3.7% to close high at $31.34 per share. Dreihaus Capital, which owns 10% of the company's shares, said in the afternoon of the same day that it would vote in favor of the acquisition offer issued by Wanda's AMC theater line.

Wanda's global theater layout continues.

Previously, the deal was stalled due to obstruction from Carmike's major shareholders. Earlier this week, AMC added its chips to offer a purchase plan of $33.06 per share, totaling $1.2 billion, an increase of $100 million from its mid-July offer. AMC CEO Adam Aron told analysts that $1.2 billion would be the highest offer the company is willing to pay.

Although Dreihaus Capital still publicly stated today that the price understates the company's value, it also admitted that Carmike's current strategy is to seek to sell rather than continue to grow independently."Under the influence of this strategy, it will be difficult for Carmike to deliver a better report card within a year, and there will be no additional increase in market value."

Ryan Noonan, the relevant person in charge of AMC Group, told reporters that AMC aims to be global and has made non-stop acquisitions recently in order to become the world's largest and best theater operator.

AMC currently has 5425 screens, mainly distributed in large and medium-sized cities in the United States, while Carmike's 2954 screens are mainly distributed in suburbs. If the transaction is finally concluded, AMC Group will further expand the U.S. domestic market and create economies of scale in this market.

The various ways in which theaters seek transformation

have been influenced by the sudden emergence of online streaming service providers such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, as well as the U.S. TV drama industry in recent years. Theater occupancy has shown a slow decline in the past 10 years. American movie star Jack Black once said at the 2015 Academy Awards ceremony that everyone now watches movies on the small screen in their jeans pockets.

Changing the situation of poor attendance has become a common issue for all major theaters. First of all, large-scale productions have become a lifeline that all theaters pay attention to. Action films and large-scene films have become battlegrounds for theaters. In 2014, driven by blockbusters such as "The Hunger Games", the box office of U.S. and Canadian movies surged to US$11.5 billion. Last year, due to the boost of attendance by action blockbusters such as "Jurassic Park", theater revenue soared again.

In the just-released AMC's financial report as of June this year, in the previous quarter, due to the large number of family dramas, the theater's attendance dropped by 7.1 percentage points. This shows that blockbusters have a great impact on theaters, so major theaters in the United States currently insist on giving priority to blockbusters over the Internet.

Secondly, the importance of Social networks marketing has become prominent. An American film and television publicity industry official told reporters that if a movie can stir up discussions on the Internet, it will have a significant effect on increasing the box office. "When friends are all talking about a certain movie topic on social media, no one wants to be left behind," the industry insider said.

The way theaters transform into the digital age also includes the development of movie-related software. Audiences experience the movie from the moment they book tickets. Earlier this year, Disney, 21st Century Fox and Lionsgate Entertainment invested $50 million in Atom, a discounted booking software for a team of only 20 people. The three theaters said that 15% of ticket bookings are currently completed through mobile phones, and they hope to increase this proportion by optimizing the user experience in this aspect, ultimately driving box office growth.

In addition to movies, services such as catering in theaters have also become one of the pillars of increasing revenue. Ryan Noonan told reporters that expanding the variety of food supply in theaters has been verified by AMC in the United States, and in the future, AMC will promote this model to the European and American theaters it acquires.

The possibility of building a global theater "aircraft carrier"

In 2012, Wanda acquired AMC for US$2.6 billion, beginning the global layout of Wanda theaters. In 2015, Wanda bought Australia theater line Hoyts Group for US$344 million. In July this year, the British pound suddenly devalued from 1.5 to 1.3 against the US dollar. Wanda's AMC decisively stepped in and won the British theater line Odeon & UCI for US$650 million. This was also the first time in the British market since the results of the UK's "Brexit" referendum were announced. A transaction exceeding 100 million US dollars.

Ryan Noonan told reporters that acquisition negotiations for Odeon &UCI have been going on for three years and entered the final stage in March this year. The exchange rate changes caused by Brexit are beneficial to AMC. The exchange rate of the British pound against the US dollar reached a 30-year low, which is the most important catalyst for the completion of the transaction.

Wanda has made frequent moves in the field of integrating global theaters, gradually approaching becoming the largest theater goal. Moreover, through scale effects, theaters have higher bargaining power compared with related industries. AMC CEO Adam Aron said that the larger scale has given AMC a greater negotiating advantage in contracts with theater technology providers such as IMAX and Dolby Laboratories, as well as catering providers such as Coca-Cola.

Editor: yvette