UCI Cinemas (United Cinemas International) is a brand of cinema, currently operating in Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Brazil, which has been owned since 2004 by Odeon Cinemas Group, whose owner is now AMC Theatres, except for the UCI Cinemas Brazil which also from the same year is owned by National Amusements.
UCI's logo used in Germany and Austria from 2014 to 2018.
The organization was announced in October 1988 as a joint venture between United Artists Theaters, United International Pictures (a partnership of Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Universal Pictures), and AMC Theatres, to operate, under the AMC brand, 200 screens in the UK and Ireland with 3 new cinemas opening in Bochum, Bremen and Cologne in West Germany and a further 150 screens planned in the UK and Ireland by 1991.[1] However, AMC pulled out of the joint venture in December 1988, and sold their U.K. assets, including their 12 cinemas, to the new entity for $98 million instead and withdrew from the UK market,[2][3] with the joint venture now known as Cinema International Corp./United Artists Communications Inc. The name was shortened the following year to United Cinemas International and they were based in Manchester, England, operating 86 cinemas initially.[4] The chain managed CIC's flagship cinemas in London, the Empire, Leicester Square and the Plaza, however, these were still owned by CIC.[4]
In the UK, the company operated cinemas under the UCI and (later) thefilmworks brands, and initially enjoyed a sizeable market share. They took over the first multiplex cinema opened in the UK by AMC at The Point in Milton Keynes in 1985,[5][6] and were one of the first to purchase a digital projector – costing a massive £130,000 – one out of only 30 worldwide. This enabled them to download films via satellite, and also play digital media disks rather than film. Under chairman Tom McGrath, the group expanded to build and operate cinemas in Brazil, China, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Spain, Taiwan, and the UK.
The cinemas were, by and large, fairly simplistic in design and seemed steeped in 1980s traditions that quickly became dated. However, a later purchase by Terra Firma (see below) saw the chain merged with Odeon cinemas and henceforth adopting the far plusher Odeon style.[neutrality is disputed]
In late 2004, the European division of UCI was bought by Terra Firma Capital Partners, along with rival chain Odeon Cinemas. The majority of UK UCI and thefilmworks cinemas were rebranded to use the Odeon name. As a condition of the merger with Odeon Cinemas (imposed by the Office of Fair Trading), UCI Clydebank, UCI Poole, UCI Sutton, UCI Basildon, The Empire Leicester Square and thefilmworks High Wycombe were sold to Empire Cinemas. Since the merger has been completed, few elements of former UCI cinemas still retain the UCI look and feel, they now almost all share the standard Odeon design cues, except for a handful of the former "Filmworks" brand whose designs did not lend themselves well to an Odeon "look". The UCI, UCI/Kinowelt and Cinesa brands will remain in Ireland and the rest of Europe. UCI Hull was evicted at around this time due to redevelopment. As there was already an Odeon there, it was not replaced.
UCI's Brazilian branch was acquired, also in 2004, by American conglomerate National Amusements, who also owned the Showcase Cinemas chain. Coca-Cola beverages sold in those cinemas were replaced by Pepsi, coincidentally Showcase's beverages. Their biggest cinema in Brazil and the biggest in Brazil, in general, is the New York City Center cinema in Rio de Janeiro, with 18 screens, including IMAX, 4DX, De Lux and XPlus screens. They also have SuperSeats and SuperD seats in select auditoriums throughout Brazil.
Irish cinemas, although retaining the UCI name, were managed as part of Odeon Cinemas and introduced parts of their offer, such as Premier seating and the Odeon in-house magazine, "Onscreen". Advertising contained the Odeon logo font in many cases. In August 2007, UCI launched a new Irish website with an identical layout to odeon.co.uk. The Irish cinemas were sold to an Irish group, Entertainment Enterprises, in September 2006, but continued to be run by Odeon under a management contract. In April 2008, Entertainment Enterprises announced that it would be acquiring the Storm Cinemas chain except the Belfast cinema, and would be contracting the management of the cinemas to Odeon. UCI's Tallaght cinema, the first opened in the country, was closed on 8 March 2010 after the landlords gave the company notice that their lease would not be renewed.[7] On 31 May 2011, Odeon announced that it had bought back the UCI chain in Ireland (including the Storm Cinemas-branded locations) from Entertainment Enterprises.[8]
Irish cinemas were rebranded under the Odeon name in 2012 to coincide with the new cinema opening at the Point Village in Dublin, as of the end of 2013 the UCI name is no longer used in any cinemas in the UK & Ireland, all are now branded Odeon.
The Odeon in-house magazine "Onscreen" was rebranded and relaunched as "Odeon" magazine in 2012.
In early 2019, the three cinemas in Austria were sold and rebranded as part of Cineplexx Cinemas.
A movie theater, cinema, or cinema hall, also known as the big screen, the silver screen, movie house, the movies, picture house, the pictures, picture theater, or simply theater is a business that contains auditoria for viewing films for public entertainment. Most are commercial operations catering to the general public, who attend by purchasing tickets.
Loews Cineplex Entertainment, also known as Loews Incorporated, was an American theater chain operating in North America.
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Warner Village Cinemas was a chain of multiplex cinemas operated by Warner Bros in the various locations throughout Europe. Created in the late 1980s in the UK as Warner Bros. Cinemas, these locations acted as a rival to Paramount and Universal's UCI Cinemas chain. This Warner brand of theatre debuted as the multiplex theatre format location was beginning to replace the traditional in-town style of cinema in the UK. In November 1996, a joint venture between Warner Bros. International Theatres and Village Roadshow Australia was established where the locations would start to share the prospective company names, leading to the title "Warner Village". The chain expanded by building more sites from 1997 to November 2002, with 40 sites open. The Warner Village chain is considered a continuation of the former UK cinema chain Warner Cinemas, which had operated for many decades prior to the formation.
AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered in Leawood, Kansas. It is the largest movie theater chain in the world. Founded in 1920, AMC has the largest share of the U.S. theater market ahead of Regal and Cinemark Theatres.
UGC is a cinema operator in France and Belgium, operating 57 cinemas as of 2022. It is also a major film production and distribution company.
Odeon, stylised as ODEON, is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name of the Odeon cinema circuit first introduced in Great Britain in 1930. As of 2016, Odeon is the largest cinema chain in the United Kingdom by market share.
Ward Anderson was a cinema chain in Ireland until 2013. It was the largest chain in Ireland and operated cinemas throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland. It was not a single company but was a group of companies such as Provincial Cinemas Ltd., the Dublin Cinema Group, the Green Group, and so on, owned by its founders, half brothers Leo Ward and Kevin Anderson, and its brands were managed by members of their families.
Famous Players Limited Partnership was a Canadian-based subsidiary of Cineplex Entertainment. As an independent company, it existed as a film exhibitor and cable television service provider. Famous Players operated numerous movie theatre locations in Canada from British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador. The company was owned by Viacom Canada but was sold to Cineplex Galaxy LP in 2005.
Magic Johnson Theatres is a chain of movie theaters, originally developed in 1994 by Johnson Development Corporation, the business holding of basketball player-turned-entrepreneur Magic Johnson, and Sony Pictures Entertainment through a partnership with Sony-Loews Theatres.
Pearl & Dean Ireland, formerly known as Wide Eye Media, is the main cinema advertising company in Ireland. The company is owned by SGO Products Ltd and is a sister company to Pearl and Dean, the worlds longest established cinema advertising sales company.
Empire Cinemas Limited was a multiplex cinema chain in the UK. Prior to the company entering administration in July 2023, there were 13 Empire Cinemas across the country, with 128 screens in total.
ABC Cinemas was a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. Originally a wholly owned subsidiary of Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), it operated between the 1920s and the 1980s. The brand name was reused in the 1990s until 2000.
A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an extension or expansion of the building. The largest of these complexes can sit thousands of people and are sometimes referred to as a megaplex.
The Point is an entertainment complex in Central Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. When it opened in 1985, it was called the UK's first multiplex cinema although the UK had introduced multi-screen cinemas in 1930 and had been increasing the number of screens in cinemas ever since. The front part of the building has a distinctive mirrored crystal ziggurat shape, framed by external steel beams at each corner, joined at the apex. Originally it had red neon lights connecting the apexes at each side, so that it looked like a pyramid at night.
Digital Cinema Media (DCM) is an advertising company, supplying cinema advertisements to Cineworld, Odeon, and Vue cinema chains. The company was formed in July 2008 and is owned by Cineworld and Odeon equally.
Cineplexx is a cinema company based in Vienna, Austria, owned by Constantin Film-Foundation. The company was founded in 1993, and operates mainly in Austria where it is the largest cinema chain with 28 locations, mostly multiplex cinemas under the Cineplexx brand. The company started international expansion in 2009 and operates 61 multiplexes in 12 countries as of 2021.
Odeon Cinemas Group is Europe's largest cinema operator. Through subsidiaries it has over 360 cinemas, with 2900 screens in 14 countries in Europe, 120 cinemas with 960 screens are in the UK. It receives more than 2.2 million guests per week.
References
↑ Adams, Mark (14 October 1988). "Exhibs Merge For U.K. Muscle". Variety. p.1.
↑ Tusher, Will (14 December 1988). "AMC Exits Partnership in the U.K.". Variety. p.1.
↑ "Ochs Will Head U.K. Exhib UCI". Variety. 1 June 1989. p.1.
1 2 Groves, Don (1 May 1989). "U.K. Circuit Renamed United Cinemas Int'l". Variety. p.1.
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