Famous Players Canadian Corporation was founded in 1920 when Paramount Pictures bought Nathan Nathanson’s Paramount Theatre chain that was established four years earlier. The Canadian Paramount Theatre chain was not affiliated with the American Paramount Theatres. The Famous Players Theatres chain was always strongly linked with Paramount Pictures and was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Communications by the time that firm was acquired by Viacom in 1994.
Canadian Odeon Theatres was started by former Famous Players executive Nathan Nathanson and his son Paul in 1941. It was not initially affiliated with the British Odeon Cinemas circuit but gained common ownership with that chain following a sale to the Rank Organisation in 1946.
On April 19, 1979, Garth Drabinsky opened the first Cineplex location, an 18-screen multiplex in the basement of the Toronto Eaton Centre. After successfully challenging the Famous Players / Canadian Odeon duopoly and their exclusive contracts with major studios, he proceeded to purchase Canadian Odeon, having brought on the Bronfman family as a major investor, forming Cineplex Odeon Corporation. There was once again a duopoly, albeit a much more competitive one.
In the 1980s, not content with having lept from one location to dozens across the country, Drabinsky began buying up regional circuits throughout the United States, which took the Cineplex Odeon Theatres name as well. Back in Canada, Drabinsky used his new position to aggressively challenge Famous Players Theatres , opening more, ultramodern multiplexes nationwide.
Most famously, Famous Players Theatres allowed the lease on a property containing the entrance of one of its flagship Toronto locations, the Imperial Six, to lapse in 1986. Cineplex immediately took over the lease, denying Famous Players Theatres access to the portion the latter chain already owned outright. Famous eventually sold its property to Cineplex Odeon Cinemas on the condition it never again be used to show filmed entertainment; it became the Pantages, now renamed the live-entertainment Canon Theatre.
Cineplex also established a distribution unit, Cineplex Odeon Films, during this period; its assets were largely sold to Alliance Atlantis in 1998.
Throughout the 1990s, Famous Players took the reins of expansion. Under chairman Tom McGrath, Famous Players re-built its entire infrastructure from 1997 to 2003 with new “megaplex” stadium-seated theaters and extensive innovative food court offerings. It was also believed to be the first exhibitor in the world to have automated box offices.
Also during this time, AMC Theatres entered the Canadian market, and most of the traditional ties between the existing chains and the major studios began to unwind, putting all three chains in full-on competition in several major markets.
By May 1998, Drabinsky had lost control of Cineplex to the Bronfmans' Seagram, which subsequently merged Cineplex Odeon Theatres with Sony’s Loews Cineplex Theatres. The resulting firm, Loews Cineplex Entertainment, subsequently suffered due to the economic recession of the early 2000s, leading to a buyout led by Onex.
Meanwhile, Galaxy Entertainment Inc. was created in 1999 by Ellis Jacob, a former COO of Cineplex, and Steven Brown, a former Cineplex CFO. With investments from Onex and Famous Players, the new company focused on smaller markets which were usually served by smaller theatres and old equipment, opening large, major chain-style locations under the Galaxy Cinemas banner.
In October 2003, Loews Cineplex Theatres merged its Canadian operations with Galaxy Cinemas , forming Cineplex Galaxy Cinemas. Mr. Jacob became the chief executive of Cineplex Galaxy Cinemas. Onex was the controllng shareholder of both Loews Cineplex Theatres and Galaxy Cinemas at the time of the merger, but sold its interest in Loews in June 2004. It maintained control of Cineplex Galaxy Cinemas.
In 2004, Famous Players Theatres locations in the Maritimes, none of which were branded-concept theatres, were sold to the region’s dominant exhibitor, Empire Theatres. Canadian Odeon locations in the region had been sold to Empire in the late 1970s or early 1980s, prior to the former’s acquisition by Cineplex Odeon Cinemas.
On June 13, 2005, Cineplex Galaxy Cinemas announced its acquisition of Famous Players Theatres from Viacom for $500 million or about US$397 million. This deal was completed July 22. To satisfy competition concerns, on August 22 the sale of 27 locations in Ontario and western Canada to Empire Theatres was announced.
On March 31, 2006, Cineplex Entertainment announced it sold 7 more theatres in Quebec to Chelsea based Fortune Cinemas Inc. The assets of Alliance Atlantis Cinemas are still on sale.
(Thanks to the happy drones at Wikipedia for this.)
And no, I don’t think this will have any impact at all on attendance. Sheeple think -Ha!– in terms of the movie, not the venue, so the downward spiral will continue, until, years down the road, there enter the scene renegade projectionists who show movies on the sides of buildings in the middle of the night, providing the sound by way of podcasts, only to be beaten down by the Home Theatre Alliance by way of their armed WIAH (“Watch It At Home') enforcers.
Long before Cineplex, Drabinsky, et al, there was Odeon Theatres Ltd which entered the Canadian market, often acquiring existing theatres, including some that were of the movie palace category. Gradually they built a chain of theatres all across Canada. Changing times brought about the construction of the first multiplexes and eventually they divested themselves of all their single screen houses. At some point Odeon became Cineplex Odeon and eventually Cineplex Galaxy, etc., with their empire extending into the US as well. Most recently they acquired Famous Players theatres, thereby wiping out their chief Canadian rival of many years past.
Incidentally, the ‘50" vs 50 ft screen’ promos have been running on network tv as well as cable channels since the beginning of the month. It will be interesting to see if this has any impact on attendance.
I only see new movies in the theaters. I like the whole experience. It is a wonder we even have movie theaters around anymore with DVD’s and bootleg copies of new movies. I have often wondered why there isn’t a movie studio who just makes movies to be shown in theaters only (greed, I guess). I use to like being able to see my favorite movie 2 or 3 years later on the big screen again.
You’re right, it is ironic. But even before anything they opened in LA, Drabinsky (in whose company I used to hold stock) opened the now-gone Eaton Centre Cineplex in downtown Toronto, regarded as the first true multiplex. Over the years I’d seen films in all of the 21 ‘auditoriums’, the smallest hardly bigger than a typical home’s bathroom.
But you know, I’m struck by this fact: the same snobbery that keeps many people from cinemas and at home, watching movies on little(er) boxes, is found in comments about ‘smaller’ cinemas. And I don’t think I’d ever made the connection previously.
Don’t get me wrong: I love a HUGE screen in a HUGE auditorium. But maybe I’m a completely different creature than some/most on this site: I love going to the movies, I love walking through the front doors of any cinema because that’s where the magic is shown. What makes any movie house special is this fact. It’s not necessarily the history of a place, although I am in love with this aspect, hence my membership here. It’s not necessarily the grandeur and size of a place, although I’ve frequented some of the GTA’s largest cinemas and have always wanted to do a road tour of the biggest in the US. And it’s not even the technical aspects of a place, although I do appreciate when I’m being spoiled by the best. My grin begins with finding out about a new movie. It increases when I download (and save) the trailer. And is sustained when I’m finally on my way to the show, then I approach the theatre (regardless what type of place), when I can first smell the popcorn, when I choose my seat, when I settle in, even when I’m watching the ‘pre-show show’, until I’m nodding to myself when the show actually begins.
So maybe, maybe I’m actually not like a lot of people here. Yes, I love ‘cinema treasures’. I adore old movie houses. But perhaps it’s that I have these other parallel loves: film itself (I see roughly 200 films a year) and the ATTENDANCE of films. I suppose with three times as many reasons to want to pay my money to see a film, I’m a little apart from the ‘discriminating’ poster on this site who turns up their nose at the idea of smaller-screend multiplexes. Something for me to keep in mind when jabs are made at ‘shoebox theatres’.
Long live all movie houses! And more power to Cineplex. I hope that all chains take the torch and run with it, both reminding the public that movies were meant to be seen on a large screen…and hopefully doing something about their product, which is not the films they show, but the experience of seeing these films, a fact that many have forgotten.
And as a final note, take a look at this as a suggestion as to how to get more people into cinemas, therefore helping the prospect of stemming the tide of closures:
Movies are supposed to be enjoyed LARGER THAN LIFE so no home entertainment system is adequate.
Unfortunately, the average movie screen is not 50 feet wide. If you go see the blockbuster on its 1st weekend of release at the local megaplex, then it probably is on a screen that is 50 feet wide, or even bigger. But, too many movie screens in the smaller auditoriums are 20 feet or 25 feet wide (and sometimes smaller). Those screens may be larger than life, but not large enough to get some of us to part with our money and our time.
When they were in the United States, Cineplex Odeon was a great chain for providing decent sized screens in even their small auditoriums, so I am not faulting them. The smaller auditoriums in the Chelsea & Worldwide in New York, in DC’s Wisconsin Avenue, and in Universal City’s theater weren’t bad. But, some of the other chains & local exhibitors built too small auditoriums. Megaplexes are better, try to provide bigger screens, but still leave too many smaller auditoriums with screens that are less than awe inspiring.
Regardless, in general, they are right: see movies in theaters, on larger than life screens, not in your homes!
Fair enough. I’ve been having an ongoing discussion with a friend who simply does not frequent movie houses. He watches just about everything at home. Only a ways into our conversation did I find out that he has a ten-foot projection system with state-of-the-art sound. (He’s in the film biz in sound editing.) All fine and good, I can’t argue with a person’s preference. However… To me, watching a film on a 32" tv is like listening to a symphony by Mozart on a transistor radio. Add to this my feeling that if you can pause it, it has no value. (Which is why being at a game will always be a more intense experience than watching it at home, in a bar, etc. Now, give me the chance to watch a championship game in a cinema…)
The cinematic experience is singular to me. To a great extent, I don’t really care if it’s an old nabe, a multiplex, a grand single-screener I’m munching on my popcorn at… I love ‘worshipping’ in a cathedral of cinema, plain and simple. So I’m happy to see this ad campaign, which addresses something the film companies really haven’t done diddly about: getting people back into the theatres for the ‘BIG’ experience.
I’m tempted to ask the questions: ‘Why does someone go to see a film in a cinema? What makes avid filmgoers see the releases when they come out? Why do they make this choice and not the one to stay home and catch the film howevermanymonthsitis after theatrical release?’
Thanks, S., for this posting. One of my pet peeves is, even if there is a decent movie playing, I cannot enjoy it as much in a theater if the screen and image are not much bigger than a big tv. I may as well get a video or DVD and save the aggravation! I have many wonderful memories of my sister (now departed) taking me as a child to see Cinerama movies in New York and and “grandiose” movie-viewing in my own local area in the fifties and early sixties before everything was doubled, tripled, or demolished.
Oh, well. If we’re venturing down History Lane…
Famous Players Canadian Corporation was founded in 1920 when Paramount Pictures bought Nathan Nathanson’s Paramount Theatre chain that was established four years earlier. The Canadian Paramount Theatre chain was not affiliated with the American Paramount Theatres. The Famous Players Theatres chain was always strongly linked with Paramount Pictures and was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Communications by the time that firm was acquired by Viacom in 1994.
Canadian Odeon Theatres was started by former Famous Players executive Nathan Nathanson and his son Paul in 1941. It was not initially affiliated with the British Odeon Cinemas circuit but gained common ownership with that chain following a sale to the Rank Organisation in 1946.
On April 19, 1979, Garth Drabinsky opened the first Cineplex location, an 18-screen multiplex in the basement of the Toronto Eaton Centre. After successfully challenging the Famous Players / Canadian Odeon duopoly and their exclusive contracts with major studios, he proceeded to purchase Canadian Odeon, having brought on the Bronfman family as a major investor, forming Cineplex Odeon Corporation. There was once again a duopoly, albeit a much more competitive one.
In the 1980s, not content with having lept from one location to dozens across the country, Drabinsky began buying up regional circuits throughout the United States, which took the Cineplex Odeon Theatres name as well. Back in Canada, Drabinsky used his new position to aggressively challenge Famous Players Theatres , opening more, ultramodern multiplexes nationwide.
Most famously, Famous Players Theatres allowed the lease on a property containing the entrance of one of its flagship Toronto locations, the Imperial Six, to lapse in 1986. Cineplex immediately took over the lease, denying Famous Players Theatres access to the portion the latter chain already owned outright. Famous eventually sold its property to Cineplex Odeon Cinemas on the condition it never again be used to show filmed entertainment; it became the Pantages, now renamed the live-entertainment Canon Theatre.
Cineplex also established a distribution unit, Cineplex Odeon Films, during this period; its assets were largely sold to Alliance Atlantis in 1998.
Throughout the 1990s, Famous Players took the reins of expansion. Under chairman Tom McGrath, Famous Players re-built its entire infrastructure from 1997 to 2003 with new “megaplex” stadium-seated theaters and extensive innovative food court offerings. It was also believed to be the first exhibitor in the world to have automated box offices.
Also during this time, AMC Theatres entered the Canadian market, and most of the traditional ties between the existing chains and the major studios began to unwind, putting all three chains in full-on competition in several major markets.
By May 1998, Drabinsky had lost control of Cineplex to the Bronfmans' Seagram, which subsequently merged Cineplex Odeon Theatres with Sony’s Loews Cineplex Theatres. The resulting firm, Loews Cineplex Entertainment, subsequently suffered due to the economic recession of the early 2000s, leading to a buyout led by Onex.
Meanwhile, Galaxy Entertainment Inc. was created in 1999 by Ellis Jacob, a former COO of Cineplex, and Steven Brown, a former Cineplex CFO. With investments from Onex and Famous Players, the new company focused on smaller markets which were usually served by smaller theatres and old equipment, opening large, major chain-style locations under the Galaxy Cinemas banner.
In October 2003, Loews Cineplex Theatres merged its Canadian operations with Galaxy Cinemas , forming Cineplex Galaxy Cinemas. Mr. Jacob became the chief executive of Cineplex Galaxy Cinemas. Onex was the controllng shareholder of both Loews Cineplex Theatres and Galaxy Cinemas at the time of the merger, but sold its interest in Loews in June 2004. It maintained control of Cineplex Galaxy Cinemas.
In 2004, Famous Players Theatres locations in the Maritimes, none of which were branded-concept theatres, were sold to the region’s dominant exhibitor, Empire Theatres. Canadian Odeon locations in the region had been sold to Empire in the late 1970s or early 1980s, prior to the former’s acquisition by Cineplex Odeon Cinemas.
On June 13, 2005, Cineplex Galaxy Cinemas announced its acquisition of Famous Players Theatres from Viacom for $500 million or about US$397 million. This deal was completed July 22. To satisfy competition concerns, on August 22 the sale of 27 locations in Ontario and western Canada to Empire Theatres was announced.
On March 31, 2006, Cineplex Entertainment announced it sold 7 more theatres in Quebec to Chelsea based Fortune Cinemas Inc. The assets of Alliance Atlantis Cinemas are still on sale.
(Thanks to the happy drones at Wikipedia for this.)
And no, I don’t think this will have any impact at all on attendance. Sheeple think -Ha!– in terms of the movie, not the venue, so the downward spiral will continue, until, years down the road, there enter the scene renegade projectionists who show movies on the sides of buildings in the middle of the night, providing the sound by way of podcasts, only to be beaten down by the Home Theatre Alliance by way of their armed WIAH (“Watch It At Home') enforcers.
Hey; is there a screenplay in there…?
Long before Cineplex, Drabinsky, et al, there was Odeon Theatres Ltd which entered the Canadian market, often acquiring existing theatres, including some that were of the movie palace category. Gradually they built a chain of theatres all across Canada. Changing times brought about the construction of the first multiplexes and eventually they divested themselves of all their single screen houses. At some point Odeon became Cineplex Odeon and eventually Cineplex Galaxy, etc., with their empire extending into the US as well. Most recently they acquired Famous Players theatres, thereby wiping out their chief Canadian rival of many years past.
Incidentally, the ‘50" vs 50 ft screen’ promos have been running on network tv as well as cable channels since the beginning of the month. It will be interesting to see if this has any impact on attendance.
I only see new movies in the theaters. I like the whole experience. It is a wonder we even have movie theaters around anymore with DVD’s and bootleg copies of new movies. I have often wondered why there isn’t a movie studio who just makes movies to be shown in theaters only (greed, I guess). I use to like being able to see my favorite movie 2 or 3 years later on the big screen again.
You’re right, it is ironic. But even before anything they opened in LA, Drabinsky (in whose company I used to hold stock) opened the now-gone Eaton Centre Cineplex in downtown Toronto, regarded as the first true multiplex. Over the years I’d seen films in all of the 21 ‘auditoriums’, the smallest hardly bigger than a typical home’s bathroom.
But you know, I’m struck by this fact: the same snobbery that keeps many people from cinemas and at home, watching movies on little(er) boxes, is found in comments about ‘smaller’ cinemas. And I don’t think I’d ever made the connection previously.
Don’t get me wrong: I love a HUGE screen in a HUGE auditorium. But maybe I’m a completely different creature than some/most on this site: I love going to the movies, I love walking through the front doors of any cinema because that’s where the magic is shown. What makes any movie house special is this fact. It’s not necessarily the history of a place, although I am in love with this aspect, hence my membership here. It’s not necessarily the grandeur and size of a place, although I’ve frequented some of the GTA’s largest cinemas and have always wanted to do a road tour of the biggest in the US. And it’s not even the technical aspects of a place, although I do appreciate when I’m being spoiled by the best. My grin begins with finding out about a new movie. It increases when I download (and save) the trailer. And is sustained when I’m finally on my way to the show, then I approach the theatre (regardless what type of place), when I can first smell the popcorn, when I choose my seat, when I settle in, even when I’m watching the ‘pre-show show’, until I’m nodding to myself when the show actually begins.
So maybe, maybe I’m actually not like a lot of people here. Yes, I love ‘cinema treasures’. I adore old movie houses. But perhaps it’s that I have these other parallel loves: film itself (I see roughly 200 films a year) and the ATTENDANCE of films. I suppose with three times as many reasons to want to pay my money to see a film, I’m a little apart from the ‘discriminating’ poster on this site who turns up their nose at the idea of smaller-screend multiplexes. Something for me to keep in mind when jabs are made at ‘shoebox theatres’.
Long live all movie houses! And more power to Cineplex. I hope that all chains take the torch and run with it, both reminding the public that movies were meant to be seen on a large screen…and hopefully doing something about their product, which is not the films they show, but the experience of seeing these films, a fact that many have forgotten.
And as a final note, take a look at this as a suggestion as to how to get more people into cinemas, therefore helping the prospect of stemming the tide of closures:
http://www.cineworld.co.uk/jahia/Jahia/pid/6
Wouldn’t you want to be able to see as many films as you want for just over $20 USD a month? I know I did, when I lived in the UK…
This is ironic, since Cineplex got its start by building tiny little shoebox theatres, like Beverly Center in Los Angeles.
SMART AD.
Movies are supposed to be enjoyed LARGER THAN LIFE so no home entertainment system is adequate.
Unfortunately, the average movie screen is not 50 feet wide. If you go see the blockbuster on its 1st weekend of release at the local megaplex, then it probably is on a screen that is 50 feet wide, or even bigger. But, too many movie screens in the smaller auditoriums are 20 feet or 25 feet wide (and sometimes smaller). Those screens may be larger than life, but not large enough to get some of us to part with our money and our time.
When they were in the United States, Cineplex Odeon was a great chain for providing decent sized screens in even their small auditoriums, so I am not faulting them. The smaller auditoriums in the Chelsea & Worldwide in New York, in DC’s Wisconsin Avenue, and in Universal City’s theater weren’t bad. But, some of the other chains & local exhibitors built too small auditoriums. Megaplexes are better, try to provide bigger screens, but still leave too many smaller auditoriums with screens that are less than awe inspiring.
Regardless, in general, they are right: see movies in theaters, on larger than life screens, not in your homes!
Fair enough. I’ve been having an ongoing discussion with a friend who simply does not frequent movie houses. He watches just about everything at home. Only a ways into our conversation did I find out that he has a ten-foot projection system with state-of-the-art sound. (He’s in the film biz in sound editing.) All fine and good, I can’t argue with a person’s preference. However… To me, watching a film on a 32" tv is like listening to a symphony by Mozart on a transistor radio. Add to this my feeling that if you can pause it, it has no value. (Which is why being at a game will always be a more intense experience than watching it at home, in a bar, etc. Now, give me the chance to watch a championship game in a cinema…)
The cinematic experience is singular to me. To a great extent, I don’t really care if it’s an old nabe, a multiplex, a grand single-screener I’m munching on my popcorn at… I love ‘worshipping’ in a cathedral of cinema, plain and simple. So I’m happy to see this ad campaign, which addresses something the film companies really haven’t done diddly about: getting people back into the theatres for the ‘BIG’ experience.
I’m tempted to ask the questions: ‘Why does someone go to see a film in a cinema? What makes avid filmgoers see the releases when they come out? Why do they make this choice and not the one to stay home and catch the film howevermanymonthsitis after theatrical release?’
Thanks, S., for this posting. One of my pet peeves is, even if there is a decent movie playing, I cannot enjoy it as much in a theater if the screen and image are not much bigger than a big tv. I may as well get a video or DVD and save the aggravation! I have many wonderful memories of my sister (now departed) taking me as a child to see Cinerama movies in New York and and “grandiose” movie-viewing in my own local area in the fifties and early sixties before everything was doubled, tripled, or demolished.