Cinemark was started by
Lee Roy Mitchell as a chain of theatres in
California,
Texas and
Utah. The roots of the company date back to the 1960s when brothers J.C. and Lee Roy Mitchell created Mitchell Theatres, Inc. By 1972, the company was named Texas Cinema Corporation. Lee Roy Mitchell then formed a group of theaters under the Cinemark name beginning in 1977. Cinemark Corporation and Texas Cinema Corporation merged operations in June 1979 creating a portfolio of 25 theaters in Texas and New Mexico under the Cinemark brand. On March 26, 1980,
Henry G. Plitt of
Plitt Theatres Holdings purchased the Cinemark circuit of theaters. But Cinemark Corporation continued operations acquiring existing theaters and began to build new theaters. In 1987, Cinemark acquired all of the Plitt Theatres. With the opening of the Movies 8 on 3912 Hampton Road in
Texarkana, Texas in 1987, Cinemark began building theaters with colorful interiors and large
video game arcades. Legal advertisements indicate that the company known as Cinemark USA, Incorporated, officially began December 31, 1987. The following year, Cinemark introduced its
Front Row Joe mascot created by
San Antonio-based independent animation studio Wilming Reams Animation. This
animated cat appeared in policy trailers and on kids' concession products. The mascot was retired in 1998 when Cinemark had begun to open
Art Deco-style theatres, and was revived in 2004 for its 20th anniversary, and again in 2018 with a CGI look, darker orange color and the beige color being added. In 1992, Cinemark opened a new theater concept called Hollywood USA in
Garland, Texas; this concept was subsequently refined into the Tinseltown USA brand of theaters, which were much bigger than what Cinemark had previously built. The following year, Cinemark expanded to
Latin America with the opening of a six-screen theater in
Santiago,
Chile. The next year, they opened four theaters in Mexico and in 1997 opened their first theater in Brazil. By 2000, it was the largest exhibitor in Brazil (180 screens), Chile (89 screens; 50% market share) and El Salvador (25 screens; 60–70% market share) and had 192 screens in Mexico, as well as theaters in Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru. In 1998, Cinemark announced that it would replace its bright color interiors with what Cinemark characterized as a more classic Art Deco design. Through new theatre construction and acquisitions, it became the third largest theatre chain in the United States and the second largest theatre chain in the world. Mitchell's son Kevin Mitchell worked with the company as an executive until leaving in 2007 to found ShowBiz Cinemas. In 2013, Cinemark decided to sell all of its Mexican theaters to
Cinemex. Cinemark has a deal with
Universal in which movies that gross more than $50 million domestically during their first weekend in theaters will continue to be shown in theaters exclusively for five weekends, or 31 days. On May 4, 2017, it was announced that a
THX sound system would be coming to the XD locations as part of a collaboration with Cinemark. The
Razer-owned company was hired to certify over 200 XD auditoriums in the United States and
Latin America. It took a year to finish the certification update. Finally, on May 2, 2018, Cinemark confirmed that the XD screens were now THX certified as the progress was completed. Cinemark Holdings Inc (CNK) Reports Robust Revenue Growth and Solid Profitability in FY 2023.
United States Department of Justice lawsuits In the 1990s, Cinemark Theatres was one of the first chains to incorporate stadium-style seating into its theatres. In 1997, several disabled individuals filed a lawsuit against Cinemark, alleging that their stadium-style seats forced patrons who used wheelchairs to sit in the front row of the theatre, effectively rendering them unable to see the screen without assuming a horizontal position. The case was heard in El Paso district court as
Lara v. Cinemark USA, where a judge ruled that the architecture of Cinemark's theatres violated the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ruling was later overturned by the
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that Cinemark only had to provide an "unobstructed view" of the screen, and that since disabled patrons' view was only awkward and not actually obscured, Cinemark was not violating the law. In response, the
United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed their own suit against Cinemark while appealing the appellate court's decision. The DOJ argued that, while Cinemark was not technically violating the ADA, it was nevertheless discriminating against disabled patrons by relegating them to the worst seats in the auditorium. Cinemark responded by filing a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, alleging misconduct on the DOJ's behalf. Cinemark's lawsuit was thrown out, and the Department of Justice proceeded with its lawsuit. Cinemark ultimately agreed to
settle out of court before the court came to a ruling, agreeing with the DOJ that it was in the company's best interest to end litigation before a ruling was issued. The gunman, later identified as
James Eagan Holmes, who was believed to be acting alone, entered the theater dressed in
protective clothing, set off
tactical grenades, then opened fire with multiple firearms on the theatergoers. Counting both fatalities and injuries, the attack was the largest mass shooting in terms of number of casualties in United States history at the time. The theater was reopened on January 17, 2013. The theater was sued by families of the victims, who alleged the theater should have taken greater measures to prevent the shooting. In May 2016, after years of legal debate, a jury took three hours to deliver a unanimous verdict that the theater chain was not liable. As the prevailing party in the judgment, Cinemark sought nearly US$700,000 from the plaintiffs to recover litigation expenses. In September 2016, after objections from the victims, Cinemark dropped all claims for reimbursement of legal fees. A separate group of victims were also dismissed in federal court when US District Judge R. Brooke Jackson ruled: "[James Holmes'] own premeditated and intentional actions were the predominant cause of the plaintiffs' losses." In the wake of the
2018 school shooting in
Parkland,
Florida, Cinemark announced that it would no longer allow bags larger than in its theaters as a safety precaution.
2020 temporary closure On March 18, 2020, Cinemark temporarily closed all 345 of its theaters in the United States due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Cinemark released a statement describing the temporary closure "as a proactive measure in support of the health and safety of its employees, guests and communities." In May 2021, CEO Mark Zoradi said that 98% of Cinemark's theaters in the United States had reopened. Due to government restrictions in Latin America, only half of the theaters in the region were operating. ==Political causes==