Cinemark

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Cinemark

Basic information
Founded	1977
Legal Structure	Public
Industry	Entertainment, Movies
Also known as
Official website	https://cinemark.com

Cinemark Theatres is a major American and international movie theater chain founded in 1977. As of March 2025, there are 497 Cinemark theaters in the United States and Latin America combined.

Consumer-impact summary

Overview of concerns that arise from the company's conduct regarding (if applicable):

• User freedom
• User privacy
• Business model
• Market control

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Freedom

To use digital gift cards or mobile ticketing, users must create an account and agree to the Cinemark Terms of Service.

Market control

Cinemark operates hundreds of cinemas across 42 states in the U.S. and globally, with them being the third largest cinema circuit in the U.S and having presence in 15 of the top 20 South American cities. Over the years, Cinemark has acquired Century Theatres, Rave Cinemas, and Tinseltown USA, further increasing their presence in the United States.

Incidents

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This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Cinemark category.

Liability cap

Cinemark’s ToS include a broad limitation of liability clause:

"IN SUCH JURISDICTIONS, OUR LIABILITY IS LIMITED … OR $20, WHICHEVER IS LESS."

This restricts consumer recoveries to $20 or less, regardless of the magnitude of actual damages, such as duplicate charges or failed redemptions.

Forced arbitration and opt‑out

Cinemark requires binding arbitration for any disputes:

"Unless you opt‑out … any future disputes … will be resolved by binding arbitration … You are waiving your right … unless you send notice post‑marked no later than thirty (30) days after the date you accept these Terms of Service for the first time."

Users must send a written opt‑out letter within 30 days of first agreeing to the ToS—or forfeit their right to class-action lawsuits or judicial resolution.

Why it matters

• Cap on liability: Consumers may suffer significant losses but only recover a trivial amount.
• Arbitration requirement: Arbitration is often more costly and less transparent, and consumers may lose access to court remedies.
• Forced click‑wrap agreement: Users must accept these terms post-purchase if they want to redeem gift cards or buy tickets online.

Impact on consumers

These conditions shift risk and legal protections away from users by embedding restrictive clauses in mandatory account agreements—especially where users are unlikely to read or understand fine-print ToS.

Anti-consumer legal cases

Anti-competitive behavior

U.S. and State of Texas v. Cinemark Holdings, Inc., et al. (May 2013—August 2013)

The U.S. and the State of Texas brought civil antitrust action against Cinemark Holdings, Inc. in an effort to "prevent the proposed acquisition by Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (“Cinemark”) of thirty-two movie theatres owned and operated by Rave Holdings, LLC (“Rave Cinemas”)". The Cinemark acquisition of Rave Holdings constituted a $220 million dollar deal, where Cinemark was to acquire 35 of Rave Holdings' theaters across 12 states. Rave Holdings constituted a large majority of the competition facing Cinemark "in and around Voorhees and Somerdale in southern New Jersey, the eastern sector of Louisville, Kentucky, and the area in and around Denton, Texas". Additionally, Cinemark's founder and Chairman of the Board was noted as owning Movie Tavern, Inc. ("Movie Tavern"), which was a significant competitor to Rave Cinemas in western Forth Worth, Texas.

Thus, the acquisition of Rave Holdings by Cinemark was seen by the Department of Justice as a violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 18, which states that "No person engaged in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce shall acquire, directly or indirectly, the whole or any part of the stock... the effect of such acquisition may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly".

Final judgement was passed on August 15, 2013 which ordered Cinemark to divest Movie Tavern, Inc., as well as three Texas based theaters.