Portland-Area Movie Theater Chain Cinetopia Has Been Acquired By AMC

The small chain's four locations abruptly and mysteriously closed earlier this week.

An AMC Theater in Plainville, Connecticut. IMAGE: Svtlightning18 / Wiki Commons.
By Shannon Gormley

As of this afternoon, local movie theater Cinetopia is owned by AMC Theaters.

The upscale movie theater chain—which has two locations in Vancouver, Wash., where it first started, one in Beaverton and another in a suburb of Kansas City, Kan.—closed abruptly and without a clear explanation on Monday. The shuttering came in the midst of a legal battle with AMC, which Cinetopia has accused of practices that violate antitrust laws.

Related: Portland Area Luxury Movie Theater Chain Cinetopia Appears to Have Suddenly Closed

AMC confirmed the acquisition in a press release, which also states that the Vancouver Mall location will open under AMC branding "as early as Friday evening." The other two local locations will reopen within the next week.

Cinetopia's website now redirects to an AMC webpage. The two Vancouver locations will no longer offer in-theater dining, and the theater's bars will be temporarily closed until the cooperation obtains new liquor licenses.

The transaction marks AMC's entrance into the Portland-area movie market. Previously, the company's only Oregon outpost was in Corvallis.

Cinetopia was founded 14 years ago in Vancouver, Wash. Recently, owner Rudyard Coltman opened Studio One Theaters in Southeast Portland, another boutique cinema with screening rooms designed to look like penthouses.

In a report by the The Columbian, former Cinetopia employees claim that layoffs began weeks ago.

Coltman did not return WW's request for comment.

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