Kinepolis has agreed to acquire 13 Showcase Cinemas locations across the northeastern United States from Harbor Lights Entertainment, extending the Belgian chain’s American operations to the East Coast for the first time. The transaction covers 164 screens and is expected to close before the end of summer 2026.
The Kinepolis Showcase Cinemas deal spans four states. Seven of the acquired cinemas are in Massachusetts, four in New York, one in Ohio, and one in Rhode Island. Six locations will transfer to Kinepolis as owned properties; the remaining seven continue under lease agreements already in place.
Numbers behind the Kinepolis Showcase Cinemas acquisition
Together, the 13 cinemas add 164 screens and 17,794 seats to the Kinepolis portfolio. In 2025, those locations drew roughly four million visitors and generated more than $90 million in revenue. The cinemas ended the year at near cash-flow break-even on a site-by-site basis.
The enterprise value of the deal is $30 million. Kinepolis says that figure is largely offset by the real estate value of the six properties it will own outright, which limits the effective cash cost relative to the scale of the acquisition.
Expanding from Michigan to the East Coast
Eddy Duquenne, CEO of Kinepolis Group, set out the geographic logic: “This acquisition allows us to extend our market position in the US from Michigan to the East Coast with an asset and a team that will allow us to implement Kinepolis’s operational model and business strategy.”
Kinepolis has operated in the US Midwest for several years. The Showcase purchase establishes the company in the densely populated northeastern corridor, where it had no previous footprint. Massachusetts alone accounts for seven of the 13 cinemas, giving Kinepolis a concentration in the Boston metropolitan area. New York brings four more in one of the largest cinema markets in the country.
What Kinepolis brings to the Showcase portfolio
Kinepolis is a Belgium-based cinema group with multiplexes across Western Europe, North America, and several other international markets. The company applies a consistent operational model across its acquisitions, including premium large-format screens and in-house food and beverage programs.
Kinepolis has not announced whether it will retain the Showcase Cinemas brand after the transition. The company has maintained local branding in some acquired markets depending on circumstances, and no timeline for a rebrand has been given.
The acquisition takes place against a backdrop of ongoing consolidation in the US exhibition market, where operators have been absorbing smaller regional chains to build scale and geographic coverage. For Kinepolis, the Showcase deal fills a clear gap on the North American map.