T-L Photo/JANELL HUNTER The Carmike Cinemas at the Ohio Valley Mall was closed on Wednesday for a technical switchover. The Carmike chain recently was acquired by AMC Theaters, and all Carmike theaters will undergo similar transitions to the new company soon.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A new company is taking over a local movie theater.

Carmike Cinemas has been a longtime tenant of the Ohio Valley Mall, but customers going to see a movie Wednesday were greeted by a sign informing them that the theater was closed to undergo a conversion to new ownership. The movie theater chain, which had 276 theaters across the country as of last March, was recently acquired by AMC Theatres. The move makes AMC the largest movie theater chain in the world, with about 900 theatres, according to a news release from AMC.

The company first expressed interest in acquiring the Carmike chain in March 2016, announcing its intent to begin purchase negotiations. On Dec. 21, AMC announced that the acquisition process was complete and that it had acquired Carmike Cinemas for about $1.1 billion. The purchase means that all existing Carmike Cinemas establishments will be rebranded as AMC Theatres.

The St. Clairsville movie theater was closed for the day on Wednesday for a technical switchover, as AMC made the change from Carmike’s technology to its own.

Joe Bell, director of Corporate Communications for mall parent the Cafaro Co., said that mall management wasn’t informed of the closure ahead of time, leading to a wave of calls from customers concerned about the closure. The theater was open again Thursday. Bell said the building was most likely closed to replace signage and brand names with the new logo, as well as to switch projector technology over to AMC equipment.

Bell said mall management and Cafaro are optimistic about the future of the mall movie theater under the new ownership. He noted that although they have not been contacted about changes or renovations to the building, he wouldn’t rule such work out down the road if the theater continues to be successful.

“It’s a fine name in American cinemas,” Bell said of AMC. “I’m sure they’ll do just fine.”

For more information on the change of ownership, call the Ohio Valley Mall at 740-695-4526.