VSS-Southern Theatres, L.L.C. (aka Southern Theatres) is a
movie theater
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
chain based in
,
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...
, United States. It was founded by George Solomon in May 2002. It operates two brands; The Grand Theatre, and AmStar Cinemas. The Grand and AmStar operate 18 multiplex stadium-seating movie theaters. In total, the chain has 18 locations (12 with luxury seating) with 266 combined screens in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas, making it the sixteenth-largest theater chain in the U.S.
The company is majority owned by Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), which initially made a $30 million equity investment in Southern in April 2005 and later took a majority stake. VSS is a private equity and
mezzanine capital
In finance, mezzanine capital is any subordinated debt or preferred equity instrument that represents a claim on a company's assets which is senior only to that of the common shares. Mezzanine financings can be structured either as debt (typical ...
fund management company dedicated to investing in media, communications and information industries in North America and Europe. James Wood is Southern's CEO and Ron Krueger is President/COO
On September 12, 2013, VSS-Southern Theatres announced that it had acquired the movie-eatery chain Movie Tavern from Lee Roy Mitchell, who had been required to sell the company after
Cinemark
Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (stylized as CineMark from 1998 to 2022 and CINEMARK since 2022) is an American movie theater chain that started operations in 1984 and since then it has operated theaters with hundreds of locations throughout the America ...
bought
Rave Cinemas
Rave Cinemas, formerly known as "Rave Motion Pictures", is a movie theater brand founded in 1999 and owned by Cinemark Theatres. It previously was headed by Thomas W. Stephenson, Jr., former CEO of Hollywood Theaters, and Rolando B. Rodriguez, fo ...
on May 29, 2013. At the time of the acquisition, Movie Taverns were found in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Atlanta, Denver, and Lexington markets. The brand has expanded to include locations in the Philadelphia, Baton Rouge, Syracuse, and Little Rock markets.
In January 2019, VSS-Southern Theatres sold Movie Tavern to Marcus Theatres.
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References
{{reflist
External links
The Grand TheatreAmStar Cinemas
Companies based in New Orleans
Movie theatre chains in the United States
American companies established in 2002
Entertainment companies established in 2002
2002 establishments in Louisiana