Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has acquired US cinema chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the companies said on Wednesday, a move that will give the studio control over movie distribution.

The movie theatre chain will be managed under SPE’s newly established division, Sony Pictures Experiences, which will be headed by Alamo Drafthouse’s Michael Kustermann. He will remain the chief executive of the firm, Reuters reported.

The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

SPE has become the first major studio to acquire a cinema chain since the repeal of the “Paramount” consent decrees that were enacted to protect movie theatres from powerful studios.

These decrees, established in the 1940s and early 1950s, were antitrust regulations designed to prevent movie studios from monopolising film production, distribution, and exhibition.

In 2020, a federal judge granted the US government’s request to terminate the consent decrees.

Alamo, which was founded in 1997, will continue to operate all 35 of its cinemas across 25 metro areas under the Alamo Drafthouse brand, the companies said in a statement.

The chain brings over 10 million guests annually, and has a core audience of four million loyal members, the companies said.

Sony Pictures Entertainment and private equity firm Apollo Global Management had earlier expressed interest in acquiring Paramount Global.