I mean, at least it's good for jobs? Ahem: A press release circulated late Sunday points out Wanda's commitment to retaining AMC's leadership in Kansas City, which has clearly managed the operation with unparalleled finesse and expertise. But it also alludes to the prospects of both picking up more theaters and upgrading outdated ones — a roughly $500 million pledge that would seem, between the lines, anyway, to suggest that consolidation and/or closures of underperforming venues are likely imminent. In any case it means increased dependency on Chinese cash in the form of tax revenues from 300 theaters in the States alone, handing a pretty significant chunk of regulatory leverage to a government that has evinced a disregard for such taxes on its own turf and is historically known to play hardball elsewhere. What could go wrong?
But! As Deadline's David Lieberman points out, the deal further enhances ties with IMAX, which has long invested its own capital in the thriving Chinese marketplace. You win, Christopher Nolan.
[Deadline]