Regal parent company files to possibly get out of east-side Warren Theatre lease

Cineworld Group, the British company that owns Regal Cinemas, filed in Houston bankruptcy court late last month to get out of its lease at Wichita’s Plazzio development at 13th and Greenwich.

No one with Regal returned requests for comment.

The filing lists 25 leases the company is rejecting. This makes the eighth time the chain has made motions like this, and the court usually grants them.

The court has not yet ruled in this case.

There is a paragraph in the filing that said the theater chain may opt to keep one or more of these properties if it comes to new favorable lease terms.

The Regal theaters in Old Town Square and on the west side, at 21st and Tyler, are not listed among the 25 properties.

When Wichitan Bill Warren owned Warren Theatres — a name Regal still uses in Wichita — he also owned the properties where they were.

Warren sold to Regal in 2019, and Regal acquired the properties, too, but then sold them and leased them back.

Regal filed for bankruptcy last summer with $5 billion in debt.

The court filing lists a “rejection date” of June 23 for each of the 25 properties.

Look for more information as it’s available.