Streaming services became more prominent with the launch of Netflix in 2007, which diverted Hollywood movie business away from theaters and worsened when the Covid-19 pandemic completely shut down indoor cinemas in 2020.
The decline in movie audiences continued as global theater attendance declined by 4% in 2021, the Motion Picture Institute reported. Domestic box office revenue plummeted from a peak of $11.4 billion in 2019 to about $8.8 billion in 2025, according to data from commercial real estate feasibility consultant MMCG Invest.
Declining movie theater attendance and revenue has led to cinema company financial shortfalls and bankruptcy filings.
Maya Cinemas affiliate files for bankruptcy
The Bakersfield affiliate of movie theater chain Maya Cinemas filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure its finances and plans to continue operating as usual.
Maya Bakersfield Cinemas Operating Company LLC and its affiliate Maya Bakersfield Cinemas LLC on Oct. 16 filed their petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, listing $10 million to $50 million in assets and liabilities, according to PacerMonitor.
Maya Bakersfield’s top unsecured creditors listed in its petition included merchant cash advance company APP Funding Beta LLC, owed an unspecified amount of debt from an alleged sale of future receipts agreement with the debtor as guarantor. It also listed merchant cash advance company Clearfund Solutions, owed an unspecified amount for a separate alleged sale of future receipts agreement, Bondoro reported.
Merchant cash advance drains funds
“The merchant cash advances were likely the accelerant, not the root cause. They drain the cash a theater needs for film rent and payroll, and they deepen the problem rather than solve it,” Jonathan Shenson, bankruptcy attorney at Greenberg Glusker LLP in Los Angeles, told TheStreet in an email.
“Chapter 11 gives the company room to address the property debt and those obligations while the theater stays open,” Shenson said.
Despite the Chapter 11 filing, Maya Cinemas CEO Francisco Schlotterbeck assured the chain’s customers that the company’s theaters are open and operating.
Bankrupt theater continues operating
“Our doors are open, our screens are on and our team is here to welcome Bakersfield families just as we have every day,” Schlotterbeck said in a statement. “This process gives us the room to put Bakersfield theater on a stronger long-term footing while we keep doing what we love – bringing great movies to this community at prices families can afford.”
The Brea, Calif.-based movie theater chain, which was founded in 2000, shows Hollywood and Spanish-language films at its theaters in Bakersfield, Delano, Chino, Salinas, and Pittsburg, Calif., as well as in North Las Vegas.
“We are grateful to our guests, employees, studio partners and vendors for their continued support,” Schlotterbeck said. “We expect to work with all of them throughout this process and to emerge as a stronger theater for Kern County.”
Chain’s Fresno theater closes
The movie theater chain closed its theater in September 2026 at The Square at Campus Pointe in Fresno, Calif., with a notice posted on its front door, according to KSEE-TV. The company did not say why it closed the Fresno location.
“If you purchased tickets or gift cards from Maya Cinemas and need a refund, please contact Maya Cinemas directly at the following: Phone Number (559) 549-0005,” according to the notice.
The Square at Campus Pointe shopping center said in a September Instagram post that Galaxy Theaters would replace Maya Cinemas as the theater operator. Galaxy Theaters, founded in Porterville, Calif., in 1998, operates theaters in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, and Washington.
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