Will AMC Finally Give Up Celebration Lease?

It's a tale as old as time. When will something happen to the AMC-leased two-screen movie theater in Celebration, Florida that has been out of business since 2010? Speculation has been the only constant at the iconic structure in Downtown Celebration, but a new development in the COVID-19 cash crunch may finally open the door -- the box office if you will -- for a new tenant to finally take over. 

It's been a decade since the projectors burned bright at AMC Celebration 2 in Celebration, Florida. AMC Entertainment has inexplicably continued to pay the lease, reportedly to keep the small shuttered theater from falling into the hands of a rival exhibitor. With the much larger AMC 24 at Disney Springs just a few miles away, it's easy to see why the country's largest movie theater chain would want to protect its turf. Regal would go on to open a multiplex a 15-minute drive east of AMC Celebration 2 -- and Studio Movie Grill opened a location a 13-minute west -- but AMC has the Disney World market essentially on lock.

Things could be about to change. The parent company of AMC Theatres has always been in a financial funk, but the coronavirus-fueled shutdown has ushered in a new era of desperation. According to Hollywood business tracker Deadline, AMC executive David Ellis sent out a letter to all of its landlords on March 27, informing them that it will no longer be paying rent starting in April. In short, AMC has set in motion the mechanism for an eventual eviction.

This is a game changer for folks that have been counting the days for the César Pelli-designed structure at 651 Front Street to be repurposed into an operating business. AMC and landlord Lexin haven't closed the door on a potential replacement to the original two-screen movie house. The site has been an active commercial real estate listing since at least 2015. The rub has always been the prohibitive cost for the sub-lease -- reportedly in the neighborhood of $25,000 a month -- and AMC's stingy approval standards of the proposed successor. Both of those conditions are now toast. AMC has apparently stopped paying the lease, and more importantly that means that Lexin has stopped receiving the rent payments.

Lexin will finally be financially motivated to find a replacement with AMC seemingly in default, and once the pandemic dust settles and evictions are allowed to take place you're going to see a flagship spot in Downtown Celebration finally hungry for a new tenant.

Whether it becomes a new theater and performance space or a new retailer or restaurant operator entirely moves in remains to be seen. A lot has changed since the original theater opened in 1996. There is a much larger and growing base of residents in Celebration, but there are also far fewer parking spaces available to support the new business than there was when AMC Celebration 2 was in business. One way or another, change seems as if it's finally coming to an iconic building that's been dark for 10 years.