Laid off from iPic Theaters.

What iPic Theaters layoffs have meant for employees

If you got one of iPic's February 2026 notices, it said the company intended to close your theater permanently, and every other employee got the same message. The notices went out before the Chapter 11 case was filed and months before any theater was sold. The plan of liquidation says the separation date on its 60-day notices was later extended in certain instances, so people could still be working past the date on their paper. The Atlanta theater shows the gap. Its 163 jobs were the most at any site in our WARN filings that year, and by June CMX's release was naming that theater among CMX's own. The 899 jobs iPic put on notice in 2026 count who was warned, and the sale outcome means they can't stand in for who lost work.

Keeping a job at a sold theater still meant changing employers. The Cinemex purchase agreement filed with the May sale order had the buyer offering jobs to all employees at the theaters it covered, along with the executives and managers it picked, and it had iPic terminating everyone who moved just before closing. Blue Fox's agreement was narrower, covering employees it identified in the two days before closing. Both left salaries, benefits and other terms to the buyer's judgment, and at the two Blue Fox theaters the work itself was changing, since TheWrap reported in-theater dining was being phased out. If you moved to CMX or Blue Fox, holding on to your last iPic pay stub gives you a dated record of what you earned before the switch.

What iPic owed its staff stayed with iPic. Both agreements left accrued vacation, sick leave and other paid time with the seller, along with WARN Act responsibility for anyone who didn't transfer, so a buyer's job offer didn't carry those balances with it. The April wage order authorized pre-filing pay up to a $15,150 cap per employee, with two exceptions, the CEO and unused paid time off that state law requires at termination. That second exception applies only where state law requires the payout, so a balance alone doesn't trigger it. The February 2026 court motion described paid time off as a benefit for salaried staff and for full-time hourly supervisors and corporate staff, while about 900 of the roughly 1,300 employees were part-time. The order also says it isn't a promise to pay any claim, so its dollar figures show what iPic could pay.

Fort Lee, North Bethesda, Redmond, Pasadena and North Miami Beach drew notices in both 2020 and 2026, so someone with long tenure there could've been through both. All 18 iPic rows in our tracker date from those two moments. Anyone who stayed from 2019 on saw a bankruptcy sale to an affiliate of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, pandemic separations and furloughs, then a second bankruptcy. In 2020 a spokeswoman hoped to return many people to work once iPic was allowed to, Bethesda Magazine reported. The 2026 filings describe a liquidation, and the name on the building can mislead here. CMX kept iPic as the brand at the theaters it took over, but a claim for time off earned under iPic points back to the company in the bankruptcy case.

The plan taking effect didn't settle who gets what. A June analysis filed with it projected about $1.41 million in general unsecured claims paid at 100%, but it marked that total to be determined. It also pointed to $11.8 million in filed class action claims, which it assumed would shrink to about $5.9 million in a Chapter 7 comparison. That makes the 100% a projection with a large open question behind it. If you believe you're still owed wages or paid time off, Stretto's case page has a claims search, and the same site carries the court docket.

A sourced history of iPic Theaters layoffs

• June 2026, CMX and Blue Fox take over iPic theaters

  CMX said in a June 15 release that nine iPic locations had joined it and that it retained their teams. TheWrap reported Blue Fox took Westwood and Fulton Market, rebranding them The Cinemas and phasing out in-theater dining.

• June 2026, Pasadena closes after its lease ends

  Blue Fox's deal narrowed to two other theaters, the confirmation order shows, and iPic agreed to end the Pasadena lease effective May 31, the June 5 sale order records. TheWrap reported the closing in early June, after the April 28 date our tracker shows for 91 jobs.

• April 2026, iPic stops operating in Redmond

  iPic told the court in an April 2026 lease motion that it would cease operations at Redmond on April 28, though the lease ran to September 2030. All employees there got notices, and the tracker lists 64 jobs.

• February 2026, Chapter 11 and notices to every employee

  iPic mailed notices to each employee on February 23, stating its intention to close each location permanently, then filed for Chapter 11 on February 25, the confirmation order records. Sixty-day notices named April 28, a date later extended in certain instances.

• August 2020, pandemic separations and extended furloughs

  The North Bethesda notice covered up to 100 employees and blamed the COVID-19 crisis, Bethesda Magazine reported. A spokeswoman said iPic had to "issue separations and extend furloughs." Eight tracker rows date from that August and September.

• November 2019, Dobbs Ferry closing during bankruptcy

  iPic said its Westchester theater in Dobbs Ferry, New York, would close November 11, The Hudson Independent reported. Some staff were to transfer, and others were to get benefits "per federal and state guidelines for a site closure."

What to do if you're laid off from iPic Theaters

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. iPic Theaters's biggest hubs: Florida, California, Georgia, Maryland. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what iPic Theaters's hub states run: Florida, California, Georgia, Maryland, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.