Daenerys Targaryen story a "non-stop confrontation with complex ideas about sex, war, gender, race, politics and morality". Matthew Gilbert of "The Boston Globe" called her scenes "mesmerizing". "Salon"'s Andrew Leonard, in his review of "A Dance with Dragons", called Daenerys one of the series' three strongest characters, and bemoaned her lack of inclusion in "A Feast for Crows". The website Mashable recognized her as one of the five most popular characters on the series, while "The Daily Beast" referred to her as the "closest thing the series has to a protagonist". Emilia Clarke's acting performance, as she closed Daenerys's arc in the
Regal Cinemas offices were closed. Regal and United Artists had attempted to merge before in 1998, using a similar method. Investment firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst announced plans to acquire Regal, then merge it with UA (which would be bought by Hicks, Muse) and Act III (controlled by KKR), with the new company using the Regal Cinemas name. UA eventually dropped out of the merger, but the merger between Regal and Act III went through. As Regal consolidated the three chains, CineMedia began work on a new digital distribution system to provide a new "preshow", replacing the