Another AMC theater in Columbia has closed

Movie theater giant AMC Entertainment has shuttered another Columbia movie house.

The AMC Classic Columbia 10 at 5320 Forest Drive is now permanently closed, according to the AMC website. The now playing posters had been stripped from the building’s exterior walls as of Friday morning, and signs posted on the doors and windows read “Theater permanently closed.”

The theater has been in operation in Columbia in some form since 1996, according to the website Cinema Treasures. The theater was initially called the Wynnsong 10. In 2016, AMC acquired the theater and by 2017 had changed the name.

Its closure comes just weeks after AMC shuttered another area movie venue. The AMC Dutch Square 14 was closed in August, but another company, Bow Tie Management, swooped in to save the venue.

Just one AMC theater remains open in the Columbia area, the AMC Harbison 14. The State has contacted AMC Entertainment for information on plans for the remaining theater.

Movie theater chains have been struggling since before the COVID-19 pandemic to compete with streaming services and declining attendance at their venues.

AMC Entertainment alone had by this month closed 98 theaters since the start of the pandemic, according to reporting by The New York Times.