Your choices of theater chains just got a little more limited: AMC Entertainment has purchased Loews Cineplex Entertainment, bringing AMC's total ownership to 415 theaters with 5,672 screens. The merge has been planned for some time: both chains sold a few theaters last year to avoid legal problems with the consolidation. Regal Cinemas is still the largest theater chain in the U.S. but AMC is right behind them.

An analyst in this article on the acquisition deal claims that the merger won't have a noticeable effect on most moviegoers, because we aren't brand-loyal when it comes to theater chains, and in fact most people don't care who owns a theater. I'm not sure if that's true—I know the ownership of nearly every theater in town, and there are chains I love and chains I avoid like the plague. But let's face it, I'm a film geek and not representative of the general moviegoing public.

On the other hand, the article does not mention the effect this merger may have on the availability of specific movies in theaters. AMC refused to screen the unrated documentary The Aristocrats last year...and one of the chains that did pick up the movie was Loews. That option will now be gone. If you live in a town now monopolized by AMC and want to see an unrated or controversial film, you may be out of luck.

More on the AMC Loews merger: Though it's going to be "structured as a merger", AMC obviously has the upper hand, and the deal may be a big arrow pointing to their return to the market as a public offering. Oddly, the stock price of new company's biggest competition, the even larger Regal chain, actually went up 16 cents the day of the announcement. Dick Westerling, a Regal vice president, even applauded the merger announcement, telling Variety, "Consolidation is a good strategy in this industry." And ultimately, the speculators are speculating that having another mega-exhib around will likely force studios to share more of their profits with theaters. If they ever again have profits to share, that is.

Apparently, you're not going to the movies anymore anyway, but if you were, this would be a big deal: AMC Entertainment and Loews Cinemas have announced a merger. They'll form the second-largest exhibition chain in the world, with 450 theaters in 13 countries, called AMC Entertainment Inc. There'll be an antitrust review, AMC will put forth financing, and then the deal could close in six to nine months.

You guys did this. You know that, right? I mean, this isn't exactly Osama and Sadaam getting together for tea - I'm not sure this is even a bad thing, so I'm not *blaming* you. But when major exhibitors are struggling to the point where they have to join up in order to survive, clearly the mass cinema exodus is having an effect.