

The lending partners we had, Goldman Sachs and Crestline, were our partners prior to the filing, and they stuck with us. If you turn it around and find the glass half full, what it does enable you to do is restructure.

It’s tough on the company, tough on your vendor partners, tough on everybody. Ted Croft: As you can imagine, Chapter 11 is tough on all parties. Could you talk a bit about the restructuring process that SMG went through and how it will enable you to emerge stronger from the pandemic? Studio Movie Grill was one of the chains that filed for Chapter 11 during 2020. Studio Movie Grill’s Arlington, TX location. Boxoffice Pro spoke with Croft Ted Low, V.P., brand and marketing and Tearlach Hutcheson, V.P., film, on SMG’s emergence from a challenging 2020 and the next chapter in its own ongoing story. With a new CEO at the helm-former COO/CFO Ted Croft, who’s been with the company since 2011-Studio Movie Grill is poised to exit from the pandemic period leaner and focused on providing the best possible guest experience-even if that means something a little different now than it did in the pre-Covid days. April 2021 saw Studio Movie Grill emerge from Chapter 11 following a restructuring. In October, Studio Movie Grill filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.īut the story wasn’t-and isn’t-over. In March, the Covid-19 pandemic shut down North American cinemas. In January 2020, they announced plans to open five new locations through the first three quarters of the year.


In April 2019, Studio Movie Grill received $100 million in strategic growth investment from TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. In 2019, Studio Movie Grill was the 13th-largest exhibitor in North America, combining a dine-in movie experience with numerous community initiatives-including its “Movies + Meals” program, providing free screenings and meals to local nonprofits-to build a powerful brand that entered 2020 set to expand. The Dallas-based chain, founded in 2000, has quite a story of its own. “Opening hearts and minds one story at a time” is the mantra of Studio Movie Grill.
