The Regal Cinema Hollywood 24 off I-85 in Chamblee is closing down after a quarter century in business.
Tomorrow’s News Today - Atlanta broke the story.
CBRE has placed the 37-acre property up for sale for an undisclosed amount. The owner of the property is San Diego-based Realty Income Corporation, according to Dekalb County tax records.
The theater is expected to close soon, according to the story posted on Tomorrow’s News Today. A Regal spokesman did not respond to an email seeking comment. (As of December 4, the theater remains open and appears ready to do so through the holidays, which tend to be a busy time for movie theaters. The Thanksgiving weekend was the busiest ever in terms of overall box office gross courtesy of “Wicked,” “Gladiator 2″ and “Moana 2.”)
Regal built out Hollywood 24 from acreage that once held the North 85 Drive-In, which closed in 1998. At the time, corporate megaplexes reigned supreme, squeezing out smaller independent theaters. In 1999, the year Regal opened, theatergoers were able to see blockbusters such as “The Sixth Sense,” “Toy Story 2,” “Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace” and “The Matrix.”
Jonathan Rej, who used to own the Plaza Theatre, recalled going to both the drive-in and then Hollywood 24 when it first opened. “I really liked the design outside because it looked like the entrance to a drive-in,” he said.
Unfortunately, that aging exterior is now pockmarked with rust stains.
Credit: RODNEY HO
Credit: RODNEY HO
Over the years, Regal Hollywood has faced more competition. LOOK Dine-in Cinemas in Brookhaven five miles away has plush seating and fine dining options beyond popcorn and nachos. And NGC opened two theaters within 10 miles from Regal Hollywood with much nicer seats and lower prices.
Regal Hollywood is also an island with nothing around it except a massive parking lot. Its sister Regal Atlantic Station, 11 miles southwest, is in the middle of retail, entertainment, restaurants, hotels and apartments.
And theater attendance since the pandemic has not fully recovered as people are more apt to stream movies from home. Actual tickets sold last year in North America was only 68% of what it was in 2019, according to data compiled by Nash Information Services.
Escobar of the Plaza and Tara theaters said the Regal Hollywood property will be sold to a developer who won’t keep it a movie theater. “I expect they’ll use it to build apartments,” he said.
Business at Regal Hollywood was not great, according to Escobar, who has access to data from ComScore, which tracks box office revenue from individual theaters. Despite having 24 screens, Regal Hollywood had only generated slightly more revenue ($1.1 million) so far this year than his Tara theater, which has three screens. he said.
Regal Cinema, the world’s second largest movie chain after AMC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after the pandemic began but was able to get out of bankruptcy protection last year after slashing billions in debt.
The chain has closed three other theaters in metro Atlanta since 2020. It shuttered Regal Town Center Stadium 16 in Kennesaw in 2020 during the heart of the pandemic. Two years later, in November 2022, Regal closed down the historic Tara Cinema five miles away. Christopher Escobar, owner of the Plaza Theatre, and a group of investors reopened the Tara in 2023. Last year, Regal also shut down Regal Stadium 22 in Austell.
After Hollywood shuts down, Regal will have 13 remaining theaters in metro Atlanta: Regal Atlantic Station, Regal Medlock Crossing (Duluth), Regal Arbor Place (Douglasville), Regal Avalon (Alpharetta), Regal Perimeter Pointe (Atlanta), Regal Mall of Georgia (Buford), Regal Cherokee (Woodstock), Regal Carrollton, Regal Hamilton Mill (Dacula), Regal Dawson (Dawsonville), Regal Griffin, Regal McDonough and Regal Georgian (Newnan).
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