The Las Vegas Drive-In at West Carey Avenue and Rancho Drive in North Las Vegas was not sold to Cinemark USA in a deal that closed Thursday. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

A major national cinema deal has brought a new theater operator to Las Vegas and left an uncertain fate for a beloved local movie-going institution.

When Cinemark USA of Texas closed Thursday on its $1.27 billion acquisition of California-based Century Theatres, excluded from the deal was the Las Vegas Drive-In, a Century property at West Carey Avenue and Rancho Drive in North Las Vegas.

The 40-year-old theater is the Las Vegas Valley's sole remaining drive-in.

Executives of Century didn't return phone calls regarding the deal or the status of the Las Vegas Drive-In, but Terrell Falk, a Cinemark spokeswoman, said Cinemark didn't buy any of Century's drive-ins.

Century owns five drive-ins across Arizona, California and Nevada. Its North Las Vegas drive-in has six screens and can accommodate 950 cars.

Falk said she wasn't sure why the drive-ins weren't part of Cinemark's acquisition.

Included in Cinemark's buyout are Century's six Las Vegas-area indoor theaters, which have 96 screens. The deal makes Cinemark the Las Vegas Valley's second-biggest theater operator, after Regal Entertainment Group of Tennessee. Regal's Southern Nevada presence includes 118 screens in nine cinemas.

"Cinemark and Century are very much aligned in their philosophies and in offering a good customer service experience," Falk said. "Century has good theaters, and they have locations in areas where we don't have many theaters, so it's a nice complement."

Falk said patrons of Century's indoor theaters could expect the status quo, as Cinemark is planning few changes within the company's properties.

Falk said Cinemark will keep the Century name on Century's theaters, and that Cinemark executives plan to retain Century's local employees and managers, though she didn't know how many local employees worked for Century. No theater renovations or overhauls are on tap, she added.

She also said Cinemark had no plans to change ticket prices at Century's Las Vegas movie houses.

It's too early to pinpoint any plans for new local theaters under the Cinemark brand, she added.

"We will be integrating the Century team into the Cinemark team and offering the very best movie-going experience to our customers," Falk said. "As a company, we love movies -- movies are what we do. Hopefully, customers will continue to come to our theaters, enjoy seeing our movies and keep buying popcorn and Coca-Cola."

Less certain is the fate of Century's CinéArts brand, via which the company shows independent films -- current flicks include "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Boynton Beach Club" -- at its Suncoast theater.

Falk called CinéArts a "wonderful program," and said Cinemark has an "arthouse" concept similar to the CinéArts approach. Cinemark's arthouse series isn't as extensive as CinéArts, she said. She wasn't sure what would become of the CinéArts name, but she said Cinemark would routinely screen independent films at its theaters.

With the 81-theater Century in its fold, Cinemark has 391 theaters with 4,430 screens in 37 states and 14 countries.

It trails only Regal, which has 542 theaters with 6,383 screens in 40 states and the District of Columbia, and AMC Entertainment, which has 411 theaters with 5,601 screens in 29 states, the District of Columbia and 11 countries.

AMC has no theaters in Southern Nevada.

Until its sale Thursday, 65-year-old Century was owned by the Syufy family, whose patriarch, Raymond Syufy, spurred a federal antitrust lawsuit after he entered the Las Vegas market in 1981.

Syufy's first local theater was opulent relative to existing local movie houses; unable to compete, three of Syufy's competitors sold out to him by 1984.

The Department of Justice sued Syufy, accusing him of assembling a monopoly via purchases of his competitors. Syufy was able to prove that he hadn't built any barriers to entry for future competitors.

After Syufy died in 1994, his sons, Raymond and Joseph, took over the business.

Following Thursday's sale, Raymond and Joseph Syufy joined the board of directors of Cinemark.