AMC Entertainment shakes up Hollywood team to cut costs

In the wake of its landmark deal with Chinese monolith Wanda Dalian Group, AMC Entertainment has shaken up its Hollywood management team.

AMC, the nation’s second-largest theater chain, based in Kansas City, Mo., said longtime Hollywood executives Sonny Gourley and Dave Hull will leave the company as part of a corporate-wide restructuring aimed at at reducing costs.

Gourley was president of film programming for AMC since 2005 and has been with AMC for 37 years. Hull joined AMC in 1972 and was a film buyer for most of his tenure.
As part of the management changes, AMC’s strategic planning executive Elizabeth Frank is taking on the new role of executive vice president and chief content and programming officer. Frank will continue to report to AMC Chief Executive Gerry Lopez and will have a “growing and active role in working with our new parent company,” AMC said in a statement.

“As a result of our annual operating planning process earlier this year, we elected to make some structural changes, which began rolling out late last week,” AMC said. “Two of the main reasons for these changes: a drive to properly align our resources with our strategic initiatives; and the necessity of controlling costs, as they have increased in some areas faster than revenues.”

The restructuring, first reported by Deadline, has affected several departments across the company, resulting in an unspecified number of job cuts, said AMC, which recently sold its Canadian theaters. The changes come just weeks before Wanda Group is scheduled to close its deal to buy AMC for $2.6 billion, creating the world’s largest cinema operator.

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