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Bankrupt movie-theater chain Cineworld Group PLC said it continues to miss its box-office projections due to challenging market conditions as it gears up to sell itself out of chapter 11, the Wall Street Journal reported. Joshua Sussberg, a lawyer for U.K.-based Cineworld, owner of Regal Cinemas, told Judge Marvin Isgur of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday that the company’s restructuring effort since its bankruptcy filing in September has been hindered by the lackluster box-office performance. In addition, there haven’t been many blockbusters because the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted film production in Hollywood. “The box office receipts have significantly and consistently underperformed expectations during these cases,” Sussberg said. Cineworld’s average number of admissions from September to December was 37% less than expected, he said. In December alone, the admission number was 44% less than what the company had projected when it entered chapter 11, he said.

Cineworld, the British cinema operator in bankruptcy proceedings, said today that it would not sell any of its assets individually, and that it had not held discussions with AMC Entertainment about the sale of any of its theaters, Reuters reported. The British company said it would focus on selling the group as a whole rather than disposing of individual assets, along with its restructuring efforts, and was expecting to start reaching out to potential parties for a sale later this month. Cineworld said today that it had not held discussions with AMC about the sale of any of its cinema assets, in response to media reports, and that talks about a reorganisation of its U.S. operations were ongoing. In October, Cineworld, the world's second-largest cinema chain operator, announced a bankruptcy settlement with its landlords and lenders, clearing the way for the company to borrow funds and make a $1 billion debt repayment.

Cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings said on Wednesday it was no longer in talks to acquire some theaters owned by now bankrupt Cineworld Group following initial discussions with some lenders, Reuters reported. AMC said the earlier talks were focused on the acquisition of certain theater assets of Cineworld in the United States and Europe, which would be financed partly through issuance of its preferred stock and debt financing provided by the lenders. AMC in August announced its preferred share APE as a special dividend for shareholders and a means to raise capital in the future. The company listed these shares in New York under the ticker 'APE'. Shares of AMC rose nearly 2% in trading before the bell, while its preferred shares were up more than 3%. Cineworld shares fell 5%. During the discussions, AMC said that Cineworld did not provide any confidential or non-public information, analyses, compilations, forecasts, among other documents to the lenders.

Movie theater chain Cineworld Group on Monday announced a bankruptcy settlement with its landlords and lenders, clearing the way for the company to borrow an additional $150 million and make a $1 billion debt repayment, Reuters reported. Landlords and junior creditors dropped their opposition to the billion-dollar debt repayment after Cineworld agreed to pay at least $20 million in rent that will accrue after Sept. 30. Britain's Cineworld, which filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas in September with less than $4 million in cash on hand, previously did not intend to make any post-September rent payments until the end of its bankruptcy. Cineworld, the world's second-largest cinema chain operator, also agreed to explore a potential sale of the business and allow creditor input on its business plan. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur in Houston said that the agreement was a "pretty amazing" result given the widespread landlord and creditor opposition to Cineworld's bankruptcy financing at the start of its chapter 11 case. Creditors had filed 15 objections to the loan in court, and the company resolved about a dozen more objections before they were filed, Cineworld attorney Christopher Marcus said in court.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. shares fell after the car rental company’s latest earnings showed that falling used-car prices are starting to hurt profits, Bloomberg News reported. Hertz posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.08 a share, slightly above a consensus estimate of analysts for $1.05 a share, but still down from $1.20 in the same period a year ago. One of the chief culprits was rising depreciation costs for the cars in its fleet. Rental-car companies have enjoyed a sustained period of record used-car prices that reduce costs by minimizing depreciation and also brought in fat profits at auction. That started changing earlier this year and the bonanza may well be over. “Depreciation is going to go up because of the net effect of used-car prices coming down,” Hertz Chief Executive Officer Stephen Scherr said in an interview. “But utilization is remaining high across the industry and Hertz. We’re seeing undeniable strength.” The rental business has been strong as travel has bounced back in both domestic and international markets, he said. The company is renting out 80% of its cars, which is on par with the industry’s utilization before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 108-year-old Stockton, Calif., Golf & Country Club has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, a day after a notice was posted threatening foreclosure of the popular golf course and event venue, club managers told ABC10.com. The chapter 11 reorganization filing comes as the business deals with a debt estimated by the Bank of Stockton at around $8,182,023. "Foreclosure was never an option and was never something that the board was ever going to let happen," Stockton Golf & Country Club manager Rick Schultz said less than 24 hours after the business filed for reorganization. "The club received a notice of foreclosure over a month ago, and the date for the trustee sale was posted as Oct. 17, but the club never intended to allow that to happen, as we were working with our legal team." Much of the debt, according to Schultz, was incurred after the club decided to build a bigger clubhouse in 2006. After the new clubhouse was built, the 2008 recession hit, which meant a decrease in membership. Schultz says club owners already voted to approve the sale of the club. He hopes that the bankruptcy filing and sale will improve the venue, boost membership and keep the landmark business alive. The Stockton Golf & Country Club was founded in 1914. In addition to operating as a golf course and hosting member-only events, the venue is also frequently used by businesses, nonprofits and individuals to host fundraisers, receptions, weddings, golf tournaments and other public events.

Canadian movie theater chain Cineplex Inc. has approached lenders to its bankrupt rival Cineworld Group PLC about reviving a potential merger with the U.K. company’s Regal Entertainment Group franchise, the Wall Street Journal reported. Cineplex has started early talks with Cineworld’s lenders about taking over the company’s U.S.-based Regal movie theater chain and handing them debt and stock backed by the merged business in return. Cineplex would need to garner broad-based lender backing for the merger and Cineworld hasn’t signaled support for merging its crown-jewel Regal chain with Cineplex in a bankruptcy deal. Cineworld doesn’t have a clear path out of chapter 11 yet, but it has the right to make its own restructuring offer to creditors before other alternatives can be proposed. Cineworld, which bought Regal for around $4 billion in debt and around $2.3 billion in stock in 2017, filed for bankruptcy with about $5 billion in debt. Its lenders are keeping it afloat through the chapter 11 process and have a significant say in the company’s postbankruptcy future.