Universal to Buy 18-Screen Theater Complex : Entertainment: The studio has agreed to pay ailing Cineplex Odeon $45 million for the facility, which overlooks its back lot.

Universal Studios has agreed to buy the luxurious, 18-screen Universal City Cinemas complex from the debt-ridden Cineplex Odeon Corp. for $45 million, the exhibitor announced Monday.

The state-of-the-art facility, which sits on a hill overlooking the MCA/Universal headquarters and the popular Universal Studios tour, would be acquired by Universal by Sept. 26 under the terms of the deal.

Cineplex Odeon would continue to manage the theater complex through its subsidiary, Plitt Theatres Inc. Proceeds from the sale would go to reduce the debt load of the Toronto-based exhibitor, which has been actively selling off theaters in an effort to regain its financial footing.

“This transaction reflects Cineplex Odeon’s previously stated intention to reduce debt, while protecting our strategic position in major markets,” company President and Chief Executive Allen Karp said in a prepared statement. “Our continuing management of Universal City Cinemas preserves . . . our strong participation in the Los Angeles market.”

Cineplex Odeon continues to operate several theaters in the Los Angeles area, including the Cineplex in the Beverly Center, the Cineplex Odeon Broadway Cinemas in Santa Monica, the Century Plaza Cinemas, the Fairfax Cinema, the Marina/Marketplace Cinema, the Odeon Cinema in Westwood and the Cineplex Odeon Showcase on La Brea Avenue near Melrose Avenue.

MCA Inc., Universal’s parent company, owns a 50% stake in Cineplex Odeon. MCA/Universal executives declined comment on the sale Monday. But Los Angeles securities analyst Jeffrey Logsdon of Crowell Weedon & Co. called the purchase a wise move. Logsdon said MCA/Universal can use the 6,000-seat complex, which features multicolored marble tiles, marble pillars, a grand staircase and 47-foot-high ceilings, as a showcase for its films.

“Within some kind of reasonable financial parameters it makes great sense for MCA/Universal to own the theaters on their lot,” Logsdon said. “It’s part of the attraction of Universal City, and it’s a way to highlight what are inarguably some of the better screens in the marketplace with their own product. Plus, it’s another way to take advantage of their competitors. When you own the theaters, you don’t have to play everyone else’s movies.”

MCA/Universal also appears to be getting a good deal in the purchase of the complex. When Cineplex founder and former chairman Garth H. Drabinsky tried to take the company private last year, MCA and another major investor considered buying the Universal City Cinemas for $57 million.

In some ways, the glamorous complex remains a reflection of Drabinsky, whose lavish spending habits left the company on the brink of economic ruin and eventually cost him his job. Drabinsky repeatedly clashed with MCA and the wealthy Bronfman family of Canada, another major partner, before his ouster.

The sale of Universal City Cinemas would leave Cineplex Odeon with 1,530 screens in 390 locations in the United States and Canada. The company, which carries about $530 million in long-term debt, recently announced that two of its major shareholders, MCA and the Bronfmans’ Claridge Investments, might be asked to put up $50 million each to help pay off long-terms debts if the company cannot comply with its bankers’ requirements to sell off $200 million in assets by year-end.

Logsdon speculated that MCA/Universal’s purchase of the theater complex might be a way of helping to pay down Cineplex Odeon’s debt without having to make the $50-million payment.

Universal City Cinemas was built in 1988 at a cost of $16.5 million. Cineplex Odeon is entitled to consider competing offers for the theater complex for the next 60 days under the agreement, and MCA/Universal has the option of matching a competing offer or leasing its land to a new theater tenant. The sale of the complex is also subject to governmental review.