On 6 October 2026 the Lithuanian Competition Council refused to clear the transaction by which the Estonian company MM Grupp, which controls the Apollo cinema chain, took over the cinema in Vilnius's Akropolis shopping centre from its competitor Forum Cinemas Lithuania. The deal was implemented at the end of 2021 without the Council's clearance. The Council collected data from all seven cinemas operating in Vilnius, three of which are located in the Akropolis, Ozas and Outlet shopping centres. It found that after the takeover the share of Apollo-controlled cinemas in the Vilnius market rose significantly and exceeded 50%, and that the three mall cinemas are now run by two independent operators instead of three. Before the deal, the cinemas in Akropolis and Outlet had been close competitors. MM Grupp offered to hand one of the six screens of the Apollo cinema in Outlet to an independent operator; the Council found this insufficient. It ordered MM Grupp, within six months, to restore the previous situation or remove the effects of the concentration — that is, to sell one of the two Apollo cinemas it controls in Vilnius shopping centres, on terms to be agreed with the Council. The decision can be appealed to the Regional Administrative Court within one month. Last October the Council found that MM Grupp had breached the law by taking control of Forum Cinemas Lithuania in 2021 without clearance; that decision is under appeal. In its announcement the same day, Apollo Group called the decision a side episode of the main dispute pending in court, said MM Grupp maintains that the acquisition did not require clearance, and said the question regarding both cinemas — in Vilnius and in Kaunas — remains for the court to decide.