US: Luxury movie theater sues rivals, alleges anticompetitive practices

The parent company behind the new iPic Theater in the River Oaks District has sued two of the biggest movie theater companies in the U.S., alleging anticompetitive practices in Houston and Dallas.

In Harris County District Court on November 17, Florida-based iPic-Gold Class Entertainment and iPic Texas LLC filed an application for a temporary restraining order and temporary injunction against Tennessee-based Regal Entertainment Group and Kansas-based AMC Entertainment Holdings and related companies.

According to court documents, iPic alleges AMC and Regal have used “their market power to squeeze out iPic’s new theater in Houston and planned theater in Dallas.” iPic alleges the the defendants “threatened film studios with an illegal boycott,” which “forces studios to choose between playing films in defendants’ theaters or iPic’s theaters, despite their preference to play the films at all locations. Defendants’ dominant market power ensures that studios must choose them over iPic, and a number of studios already have succumbed to these demands,” iPic claims.

Full content: Courthouse News Service

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