Southern Theatres


Southern Theatres, L.L.C. is a movie theater chain based in New Orleans, Louisiana, 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 41 locations with 469 combined screens across in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, making it the sixth-largest theater chain in the U.S. and the seventh-largest in North America.
The company is majority owned by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, 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 fund management company dedicated to investing in media, communications and information industries in North America and Europe. John Caparella is Southern's CEO, while Solomon retains the title of Chairman.
On September 12, 2013, 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 bought Rave Cinemas 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 November 2018, Southern Theatres sold Movie Tavern to Marcus Theatres.