Des Moines' southside is a cinema desert after AMC Southridge closure

AMC Classic Southridge 12 permanently closed its doors following the holidays, leaving Des Moines' southside devoid of a place to laugh, to cry, to care — and to watch movies.

State of play: AMC's website notes the movie theater is permanently closed, leaving Wynnsong in Johnston as the only remaining AMC cineplex.

• Cobblestone in Windsor Heights also shut down at the end of 2022.
• The Fleur Cinema, the southside's other movie theater, also remains closed.

The big picture: The box office struggled to fully recover from the pandemic in 2022 — even sending one of AMC's biggest competitors into bankruptcy — but analysts are hopeful it will improve this year and beyond, write Axios' Sara Fischer and Tim Baysinger.

• The box office ended 2022 with about $7.35 billion in domestic ticket sales, around 35% less than 2019, according to the L.A. Times.