A New York State Supreme Court judge set a November 8 auction date for properties owned by Charles Cohen’s Cohen Realty Enterprises, including the U.S. Landmark and UK Curzon arthouse cinema chains he acquired in 2018 and 2019.

Fortress Credit Corp. sued Cohen earlier this year for defaulting on a large loan backed by Landmark and other assets.

If Landmark shutters, it would be a big blow to an already challenged indie film business still working its way back from Covid. Since then, the chain has lost leases and closed locations including its most important, the Westside Los Angeles theater, and in San Francisco, Seattle and Denver.

Independent distributors have tended to gripe about upkeep at some of the theaters that remain. But a handful of execs Deadline has spoken with about this are quite unhappy at the possibility of losing them. “It’s market to market, but there are still...