Hoyts
Hoyts is an Australian chain of cinema multiplexes. The company is jointly owned by West Australian Newspapers Limited and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited. Hoyts sold most of its theatres in the United States to Regal Entertainment Group.
Hoyts operates cinemas in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. Their main rivals are Village, Greater Union and, to a lesser extent, Dendy.
History
At the start of the 20th century—specifically, in 1909—Melbourne dentist Dr Arthur Russell, who was, in his spare time, a cornet player and a magician, purchased a share in a small American travelling circus, known as Hoyts Circus, and travelled with them as the resident magician. After a financially disastrous run, Russell returned to his work as a dentist.
Undeterred, he leased the old St. Georges Hall in Bourke Street, Melbourne(later known as the Hoyts Esquire), and began showing short films on Saturday nights. Unlike his previous venture, it was successful, and as a result, he formed a new company called Hoyts Pictures Pty. Ltd. By the time he died at the end of World War I, Hoyts had expanded into the suburbs of Melbourne, and into Sydney.
In 1926, Hoyts and two other companies, Electric Theatres Pty. Ltd. and Associated Theatres Pty. Ltd., merged to become Hoyts Theatres Limited. In 1932, the Fox Film Corporation (now Twentieth Century Fox) secured a major shareholding in the company.
In August 1982, Twentieth Century Fox sold Hoyts to a group of four Melbourne businessmen. In April 1985, the Fink family brought out the other partners to become the sole owner. The Finks began to expand the company, into areas such as film distribution, home entertainment, and cinema operations in New Zealand, USA, South America and Europe.
In 1987, the corporation was restructured and two of the companies in the corporation were listed on the Australian Stock Exchange: Hoyts Media and Hoyts Entertainment. However, the company that owned the cinemas, Hoyts Cinemas, was not floated until 1996. The years between 1987 and 1986 saw considerable expansion, so that by 1994, Hoyts was the 10th biggest cinema chain in the world and was owned by an American investment company—Hellman and Friedman—directors and senior management, and the Australian company Lend Lease Corporation.
In 1996, Hoyts Cinemas was floated and in 1999, the late Kerry Packer's private family company, Consolidated Press Holdings, bought the chain for $620 million dollars. After that, Hoyts began to sell off cinemas. This trend began in 1999 when their Polish operations were sold, and in 2000 when their UK operations were also sold. In 2003, Hoyts sold its Hoyts America operations to Regal Entertainment.
In 2004, it joined forces with Village Roadshow and AHL to bail out Val Morgan Cinema Advertising, eventually taking their stake to 100% in 2005. In December that year, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited and West Australian Newspapers purchased the company from Consolidated Press Holdings.
Hoyts currently has Australia's largest multiplex cinema screen, located in Hoyts cinema 5, Blacktown, Sydney NSW it measures 28 metres across.
On March 29, 2007, Hoyts opened their latest cinema in Sylvia Park[1], in Auckland, New Zealand - featuring what is now the largest 35mm film screen in the world[2] and bean bag seating.
Hoyts Distribution
Hoyts Distribution is the film distribution arm of the company. It existed in its own right in the 1980s-early 1990s, and was later merged with the distribution operations of Columbia Tristar and Twentieth Century Fox. In 2002, the company was brought back to life, distributing primarily films produced by Nine Films and Television, Channel 9's film production arm, and major independent studios, such as Lions Gate Films.
Home entertainment
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Hoyts operated the local operations of RCA-Columbia Pictures Home Video, known as RCA-Columbia Pictures-Hoyts Home Video. It was later known as Columbia Tristar Hoyts Home Video, but Hoyts soon dropped out of the business. Hoyts Distribution releases are distributed on video and DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
There was also four imprints the company had: First Release Home Entertainment, Video Box Office, Magic Window (children's videos) and RCA-Columbia Pictures International Video.
Hoyts also had a joint venture with Polygram, forming Hoyts Polygram Video at the around the same time as their joint venture with RCA-Columbia Pictures Home Video. Their only well known release was the film version of New Zealand comic strip Footrot Flats, entitled Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale.
External links
- Hoyts Cinemas Australia
- Hoyts Cinemas New Zealand
- Hoyts Distribution online
- Hoyts and Microsoft's 'Big Screen Challenge'
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