The iPic dine-in movie theater chain has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and intends to pursue a sale of its assets, citing the difficult post-pandemic theatrical market.
The Boca Raton, Fla.-based company has 13 locations across the U.S., including in Pasadena and Westwood, according to a Feb. 25 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach division.
As part of the bankruptcy process, the Pasadena and Westwood theaters will be permanently closed, according to WARN Act notices filed with the state of California’s Employment Development Department.
The company came to its conclusion after “exploring a range of possible alternatives,” iPic Chief Executive Patrick Quinn said in a statement.
“We are committed to continuing our business operations with minimal impact throughout the process and will endeavor to serve our customers with the high standard of care they have come to expect from us,” he said.
The company will keep its current management to maintain day-to-day operations while it goes through the bankruptcy process, iPic said in the statement. The last day of employment for workers in its Pasadena and Westwood locations is April 28, according to a state WARN Act notice. The chain has 1,300 full- and part-time employees, with 193 workers in California.
The theatrical business, including the exhibition industry, still has not recovered from the pandemic’s effect on consumer behavior. Last year, overall box office revenue in the U.S. and Canada totaled about $8.8 billion, up just 1.6% compared with 2024. Even more troubling is that industry revenue in 2025 was down 22.1% compared with pre-pandemic 2019’s totals.
IPic noted those trends in its bankruptcy filing, describing the changes in consumer behavior as “lasting” and blaming the rise of streaming for “fundamentally” altering the movie theater business.
“These industry shifts have directly reduced box office revenues and related ancillary revenues, including food and beverage sales,” the company stated in its bankruptcy filing.
IPic also attributed its decision to rising rents and labor costs.
The company estimated it owed about $141,000 in taxes and about $2.7 million in total unsecured claims. The company’s assets were valued at about $155.3 million, the majority of which coming from theater equipment and furniture. Its liabilities totaled $113.9 million.
Kay’s death was revealed as her daughter auctioned presents her mum received from George, including a pair of his Cutler and Gross wraparound sunglasses, which sold for £5,700.
Other precious gifts included his engraved silver Faith tour belt buckle, which fetched £700.
A Cartier watch went for £1,900 while a Bulgari 18ct gold ladies’ timepiece was bought for £1,200.
Kay is believed to have been in her early 60s when she died, and her daughter has paid tribute to “kind” George.
She wrote in a letter of provenance for the sale at Omega Auctions: “My mother and George shared a strong, loving and enduring bond that began at the very start of his career.”
She said the singer became her godfather after her birth in 1999, and he helped host her parents’ wedding on Richard Branson’sNecker Island.
She went on: “I have vivid memories — formed later through photographs — of George travelling with my parents, clambering into private jets, and setting off on adventures together.
“As a child, I ran around the house blissfully unaware of the global stardom surrounding me. To me, he was simply a familiar, kind presence in our lives.”
A Bulgari 18ct gold ladies’ watch the singer bought was sold for £1,200Credit: A belt buckle once owned the singer was sold for £700 at auctionCredit:
Kay’s friendship with George helped him put together the supermodel line-up of Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington Burns and Cindy Crawford for his 1990 Freedom video.
The Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go star — who died at his home on Christmas Day 2016 — divided his fortune between his sisters, dad and friends.
Omega said: “These pieces tell a story of loyalty, trust and the man behind the icon.”
The Wham! singer died at his home on Christmas Day 2016, leaving millions of fans devastatedCredit: ReutersA pair of Cutler and Gross wraparound sunglasses were sold for £5,700Credit: An 18ct cartier watch given away by the singer was auctioned off for £1,900Credit:
BRITISH Airways have launched another sale and it could see you land some mega cheap business class flights.
British Airways and British Airways Holidays’ are launching a business class sale today.
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British Airways has launched a business class saleCredit: GettyIncluded in the sale are business class flights in Europe and further afieldCredit: AlamyAnd there are also holiday packages with business class flights in, in the saleCredit: Alamy
Running until March 17, travellers can get savings on a number of business class flights and holiday packages.
For example, travellers can save up to £500 on Club World return flights.
Club World is British Airways’ long-haul business class and Club Europe is the airline’s short-haul business class.
If you fancy a European getaway, then in Club Europe you could get return flights to Berlin, Germany from £270 and Dublin, Ireland from £199.
Other cheap business class flight offers include to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, from £124 each way.
And there are lots of offers on Spain flights including to Barcelona from £132 each way, Ibiza from £119 each way, Madrid from £133 each way, Palma from £156 each way and Valencia from £138 per way.
When it comes to further afield, you could head to Barbados from £1,899 and Sao Paulo from £2,899 with Club World.
Don’t want to spend that much? Then you could opt for return flights in Club World to Agadir in Morocco for £457 return.
Or you could venture off to Cairo in Egypt for £723 return.
Well, you could head off to Berlin in Germany for three nights, staying at INNSiDE Berlin Mitte hotel from £399 per person.
If you would rather head to Spain, you can holiday to Valencia for three nights staying at the Senator Parque Central Hotel from £399 per person.
If you want your holiday to last longer, then you could spend seven nights in Tuscany, Italy at the four-star Ilaria & Residenza Dell’Alba, costing from £589 per person, including breakfast.
For a holiday further afield, you could go to Marrakech in Morocco, staying at the Kasbah Africa Hotel for seven nights, with breakfast, costing from £808 per person.
To get any of these offers, you must book by March 17.
IF you missed out on the January launch of The Sun’s Hols From £9.50, there’s no need to worry.
From March 1, thousands of new breaks will be added to the Sun Holidays from £9.50 website – where you can gain early access from one minute past midnight if you’re a Sun Club member.
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Thousands of holidays from £9.50 will become available to book from 1 MarchCredit: biling aquadrome, meadow bay
This includes previously sold-out dates at some of the most popular UK holiday parks, as well as breaks at plenty of sunny resorts across Europe.
Plus if you’re a Sun Club member, you’ll be able to catch a head start when booking.
Sun Club members can head straight online at midnight on Sunday March 1.
Others must wait until morning to collect code words from the newspaper to unlock booking.
There’s multiple ways to get access to £9.50 holidays, including collecting tokens from the newspaper to enter online to unlock the deal.
However there is a faster and easier way to gain access, which is by joining Sun Club. Join Sun Club at thesun.co.uk/club for £1.99 a monthor £12 for a year.
Once you’re a member, go to the Sun Club Offers hub and find the Hols From £9.50 page – book your break from midnight on Sunday March 1.
This gets you ahead of those collecting codes, who have to wait until morning to purchase a newspaper to find the final code.
Plus once you’ve signed up you can enjoy plenty of other benefits too, such as discounted tickets to top UK attractions.
So why not stay up and join the midnight service to be among the first to access these new breaks?
There’s over 300 holiday park deals available with Hols from £9.50Credit: Sande le Mere, park holidays ukYou could be setting off on a family holiday this year from just £9.50ppCredit: parkdean resorts cayton bay
What are Hols from £9.50?
The Sun’s Holidays from £9.50 are a selection of breaks available to book across the UK and Europe that can cost you as little as £9.50pp.
These holidays range from mega family parks in the UK to sunny beachfront stays abroad.
Over at Hols from £9.50, there are more than 300 holiday parks to choose from.
These range from romantic adults-only resorts such as Sand Bay in Somerset, to fully-fledged family resorts like Billing Aquadrome in Northampton.
Some of the most popular UK holiday parks for families include Seal Bay in West Sussex and Unity Beach in Somerset, both of which have an action-packed entertainment program.
Plus it’s not just UK holiday parks receiving a major boost in booking dates – there’s sunny hotspots across Europe that you can book, too.
These include holiday parks in Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Croatia, the Netherlands and more.
And with sunny holiday resorts like the palm-fringed Bella Terra in Spain and Orbitur Valverde in the Algarve to pick from, you could be jetting off abroad for cheap.
These are just some of the 300+ resorts available under Sun Hols from £9.50.
And if you had your eye on a resort that quickly sold out in January – we’ve got good news!
Even previously sold-out dates at a range of popular parks are back with a fresh restock this March.
There are a range of Parkdean Resorts holiday parks across the UK at club950.co.ukCredit: parkdean resorts camber sandsGolden Coast holiday park in Devon was one of the top-booked parks of last yearCredit: Golden Coast holiday park in Devon is one of the top
Tips for bagging your break
Queen of the £9.50 holiday Tracy Kennedy has been booking these holidays for nearly 30 years, and has shared her top tips for logging on and bagging the resort you want.
Tracy recommends getting prepared with your top picks for parks, as well as joining the website at midnight with Sun Club membership.
She said: “Come up with a list of your top four parks from the list of those available.
“Popular sites likeSeal Bayand Unity Beach tend to go really fast.
“So if you’re set on which park you want, book it as soon as possible.
“But you should also add a few extras you wouldn’t mind going to, just in case you don’t get your top picks.
“To be in with the best chance of getting the one you want, you should set an alarm.
“I book through Sun Club at midnight, so I make sure to stay up.
“I call it The Midnight Service. It started years ago when we could start booking online.
“A few minutes after midnight comes,then Sun Clubpeople can book. Which includes me, straight after midnight. The people collecting codes have to wait a bit longer”.
“I love the convenience of having it all online. And it’s nice getting that extra priority with it opening early.
“I definitely recommend joiningSun Clubto get first dibs.”
A Palestinian mother from Gaza says she recognised her missing son, Mohammed Sharab, when he was shown shackled, blindfolded and listed as ‘for sale’ in a post shared by Israeli soldiers.
As Paramount moved Monday to sweeten its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, a high-stakes political battle is playing out behind the scenes.
Paramount’s latest offer enhanced its earlier $30-a-share bid, valued at $108 billion, said a person familiar with the process who was not authorized to comment publicly. Details of the revised proposal, first reported by Bloomberg, were not immediately available.
The firm is leveraging both the dynastic wealth of Larry Ellison’s empire and his ties to the Trump administration to dismantle Netflix’s rival $82.7-billion deal for Warner, which owns CNN, HBO and the premier Hollywood film and television studios, according to people close to the auction.
Over the weekend, President Trump turned up the heat, demanding that Netflix “IMMEDIATELY” fire Susan Rice — a former Obama and Biden administration official — who serves on Netflix’s 13-member board or “pay the consequences.”
Trump previously said he would not get involved in the pivotal Warner Bros. auction, instead leaving the matter to the Department of Justice, which is investigating whether a Netflix takeover, or Paramount’s alternative bid, would harm competition. Trump has been an outspoken critic of CNN and many of its on-air hosts.
Netflix won the bidding for the storied studio and HBO in December, prompting the spurned Paramount executives to launch a multipronged strategy to scuttle the Netflix deal.
Netflix co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos sought to downplay the latest controversy, saying during a BBC interview Monday: “This is a business deal, it’s not a political deal.”
But Paramount, which declined to comment for this article, has not been shy about playing its political cards.
Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
The company, overseen by Larry Ellison’s son, David, is trying to convince Justice Department regulators and Warner Bros. shareholders that the Netflix deal is too dicey and that they should instead side with Paramount, said sources who were not authorized to comment publicly.
Paramount has attempted numerous maneuvers to gain the upper hand.
“This deal was never going to be decided on the merits of the offer or rigid antitrust considerations,” said Gabriel Kahn, a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “This was a classic Trump administration deal where proximity to the president counts a lot more than financial terms.”
Trump’s Saturday night outburst came after Rice, during a podcast interview last week, said that “it is not going to end well” for corporations, media outlets and law firms that “bent the knee” to Trump should Democrats regain control in Washington.
The comments of Rice, a Netflix director for eight years, came as Paramount-owned CBS was involved in a headline-grabbing dust-up with late-night talk-show host, Stephen Colbert, over Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chair‘s threat to modify a rule requiring that broadcasters to give political candidates equal time. Colbert has accused his company of kowtowing to Trump, which CBS has denied.
Netflix’s Sarandos and Paramount’s David Ellison have made separate treks to the White House.
In October, Paramount hired a former Trump administration official, Makan Delrahim, who oversaw the Justice Department’s antitrust division during Trump’s first term, to quarterback Paramount’s campaign to win over regulators and politicians.
A formidable ally — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — recently visited Delrahim on Paramount’s Melrose Avenue lot in Los Angeles. While there, Cruz said he was a fan of the CBS show “NCIS,” which prompted Paramount executives to put together an impromptu tour of the “NCIS Origins” soundstages, according to a person familiar with the visit.
In December, Delrahim made a tactical move to apply for Justice Department approval of Paramount’s deal — despite the absence of a signed agreement with the Warner Bros. board and the consent of its shareholders. The gambit was meant to speed the agency’s approval should the Netflix deal crumble. Warner stockholders are expected to vote March 20.
Last week, Paramount announced that a major deadline had passed without pushback from the Justice Department. “There is no statutory impediment in the U.S. to closing Paramount’s proposed acquisition of WBD,” Paramount said in a regulatory filing.
Paramount faces a separate deadline late Monday to improve the finances of its proposed takeover to shake the support of Warner Bros. Discovery’s board members for the Netflix deal.
Paramount wants to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery, including CNN.
Netflix, in contrast, does not want the bulk of cable TV channels beyond HBO, and has offered $27.75 a share. It has the right to match any improved Paramount proposal.
Warner is planning to spin off the bulk of its channel portfolio, including HGTV, TBS and Cartoon Network, in a separate company. Its shareholders will receive stock in that entity, slated to be called Discovery Global.
Concerns over Netflix’s deal have been mounting.
Department of Justice regulators have sent inquiries to the three companies, according to one senior executive who was not authorized to speak publicly. The department is said to be looking at Netflix’s historic business strategy of steering most of its film releases to its streaming platform, often bypassing movie theaters. Sarandos has promised to maintain a 45-day theatrical window for Warner Bros. films.
Bloomberg has reported that regulators also are trying to determine whether Netflix has exerted leverage over creators in negotiations when acquiring programming to build its catalog.
This month, Republican lawmakers blasted Sarandos during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights hearing to explore antitrust implications of the Warner Bros. sale. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) sent Netflix a series of pointed follow-up questions, including: “If allowed to proceed, what effect will the merger have on future competition?”
Ted Sarandos, left, and David Zaslav at the 2026 Golden Globes.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The hearing also veered into culture wars, with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) suggesting Netflix was promoting a “transgender ideology” to children, which Sarandos denied.
Another Missouri Republican, Sen. Eric Schmitt, accused Netflix of making some of “the wokest content in the history of the world.”
“Netflix has no political agenda of any kind,” Sarandos told the lawmakers.
David Ellison also was invited to appear at the Feb. 3 hearing, but he declined — which raised the eyebrows of some members of the panel.
Skydance Media founder and Chief Executive David Ellison, who leads Paramount, is shown in 2023 in New York.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press)
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) challenged Ellison for failing to answer lawmakers’ questions under oath, including about his dealings with the president.
Ellison instead responded with a statement but Booker and other lawmakers wrote back, saying Ellison’s statement “failed to address” the issues raised by Booker.
“The pattern of evasion, combined with Paramount’s apparent confidence that a politically sensitive transaction will clear without difficulty warrants serious scrutiny,” Booker, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and others wrote in the Feb. 19 letter.
The Democrats instructed Ellison “to preserve records related to the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery transaction.”
The move came days after Gail Slater, the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, was bounced from her job, reportedly after becoming a thorn in the side of some business interests. Slater’s former top deputy, who also left the Justice Department, publicly warned that antitrust decisions are being influenced by corporate lobbyists — not in the interest of ordinary Americans.
“We see this happen again and again,” USC’s Kahn said.
“Let’s not forget that Larry Ellison’s Oracle was part of the consortium that purchased the U.S. operations of TikTok. Repeated complaints from the FCC about content at CBS have been heeded by the Ellison regime,” Kahn said, adding: “This is the reality of trying to do any business in the Trump administration: It’s about payoffs and proximity.”
WANTING to go on holiday but don’t want to spend much money? Well, British Airways has just launched a sale.
British Airways is offering up to 25 per cent off flights to Europe and beyond, including popular destinations such as Malta, Marrakech, Madeira and Faro.
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British Airways has launched a sale on return flights to EuropeCredit: GettyFor example, you could travel to Majorca for £84 returnCredit: Getty
The sale on return flights operated by Gatwick-based subsidiary airline, BA Euroflyer, is running from February 19 to 24 and is available on travel between March 1 and July 31.
Passengers will also get a complimentary drink and snack onboard, as well as hand luggage allowance.
For example, you could head off to Faro in Portugal from London Gatwick from £104 return.
The city is the capital of southern Portugal‘s Algarve region and is known for its historical buildings including the 13th century Faro Cathedral.
Visitors can also head to the Municipal Museum, which is inside a 16th-century convent and boasts a collection of prehistoric displays and medieval artefacts.
Or perhaps you want to go further afield? Well, you could travel to Marrakech in Morocco from £118 return.
Dubbed the ‘Red City’, Marrakech features a large medina – which is the old walled city that was built centuries ago.
In the medina, visitors can explore a network of narrow, winding alleyways with hidden treasure shops selling everything from brass lamps to freshly made flatbreads.
Elsewhere in the city, you can head to Ville Nouvelle, where you will find the modern part of the city with art galleries, boutiques and cafés.
Want to spend less than that? Travel to Majorca, Spain, for £84 return.
This Spanish island is loved for its blue waters, sandy beaches and secret coves.
You can spend time exploring charming villages, but there are also a number of world-famous beaches to venture to.
Make sure to try some of the local food, which consists of Mediterranean dishes with pork, lamb, fresh vegetables and olive oil.
And it isn’t just flights you can save on…
Or you could head to the ‘Red City’ of Marrakech, in MoroccoCredit: Getty
Currently, you can get £200 off a £5,000 holiday, which includes flights and a hotel.
Or £100 off a £2,500 holiday, which includes flights, hotel and car reservations.
There is also a £50 discount on £1,250 holidays and £25 off of £625 holidays.
Many of the destinations are top winter sun spots with sprawling beachesCredit: Getty
For example, you could head to Majorca for seven nights and stay at the five-star Hotel De Mar Gran Melia costing from £1,229 per person between May 1 and 31.
If you don’t fancy spending quite that much, then head to Morocco for seven nights, staying in the four-and-a-half-star Movenpick Hotel Mansour Eddahbi Marrakech from £879 per person between May 1 and 31.
