US: Regal Theaters hit with new Antitrust suit over distribution

An independent movie theater owner in Queens, New York is the latest to bring an antitrust lawsuit against a major chain over the way first-run films are licensed.

Cinema Village Cinemart filed its action on Tuesday against Regal Entertainment Group over clearance practices.

According to the complaint, “Regal has used the immense buying power of its theater circuit arising from the large number of its theaters and screens in numerous markets in the United States— including many monopoly markets where it operates the only theater—to combine with and coerce film distributors to deprive Cinemart of fair competitive access to films.”

This is the second lawsuit that Regal has faced with allegations of pressuring big film studios and harming competition. In fact, the earlier lawsuit brought in California was handled by the same attorney Max Blecher. That lawsuit was dismissed when a judge ruled that allegations about a conspiracy were too conclusory.

Full content: Yahoo! News

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