General Cinema Corporation, also known as General Cinema, GCC, or General Cinema Theatres, was a chain of

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. At its peak, the company operated about 1,500 screens, some of which were among the first cinemas certified by

THX THX Ltd. is an American company that develops the eponymous high fidelity audio/visual reproduction standards for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, gaming consoles, car audio systems, and video games. Founded ...

. The company operated for approximately 67 years, from 1935 until 2002.

History

The General Cinema Corporation was founded as a

drive-in theater A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movi ...

in 1935 by Philip Smith, who had previously owned a small chain of silent film theaters. Smith had chosen to open the chain after noticing the increasing sales of local

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

theatres, and the introduction of films that were able to accommodate a synchronized sound and voice track into their reels. Originally, Smith planned to open indoor theatres, but had decided to open a small number of outdoor theatres instead, and later decided to open some indoor theatres as well. The company did not see much growth until 1939, when

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

started, due to heavy sales of news printed on film. After the war ended, the company had assumed new leadership under Richard A. Smith, who had decided on pushing the company towards indoor movie theaters for all future expansions and had opened the country's first shopping-center theatre, in Framingham Mall. Starting in the 1960s General Cinema diversified into other businesses. At times they owned the department store

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...

, the publisher

Harcourt Brace Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California, with editorial/sales/marketing/rights offices in New York City a ...

, radio stations in several major markets (notably WEFM in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

KRBE KRBE (104.1 FM) is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts a Top 40 (CHR) radio format. The studios are located in Suite 700 of the Chase Building at 9801 Westheimer Road in the Westchase D ...

in Houston,

WZGC WZGC (92.9 FM) – branded 92-9 The Game – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve Atlanta, Georgia, covering the Atlanta metropolitan area. Owned by Audacy, Inc., WZGC is the Atlanta affiliate for CBS Sports Radio; the flag ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, WGCL in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, and

WIFI Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wa ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

), and TV station

WCIX WCIX (channel 49) is a television station licensed to Springfield, Illinois, United States, serving the Central Illinois region as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Champaign-licensed CBS affiliate WCIA (c ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. They formed a joint venture theater chain with

Hoyts The Hoyts Group of companies in Australia and New Zealand includes Hoyts Cinemas and Val Morgan. Hoyts operates more than 450 cinema screens and 55,000 seats, making it Australia's second largest movie exhibitor after Event Hospita ...

, known as Hoyts General Cinema, that had locations throughout South America. In 1976, the company teamed up with

Lew Grade Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...

's Associated Television Corporation to form Associated General Films, which produced films including ''

Voyage of the Damned ''Voyage of the Damned'' is a 1976 drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, with an all-star cast featuring Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant, Max von Sydow, James Mason, and Malcolm McDowell. The story was inspired by actual events co ...

'' and ''

Capricorn One ''Capricorn One'' is a 1978 British-produced American thriller film in which a reporter discovers that a supposed Mars landing by a crewed mission to the planet has been faked via a conspiracy involving the government and—under duress—the c ...

'' but the partnership ended the following year and ATV's ITC Entertainment subsidiary started financing films on its own. In April 1992, the company collaborated with

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...

to create mascots for the company. Within less than a year, the then-iconic Candy Band was created. Soon after, two more mascots were developed and named Popcorn Bob, and Pepsi Sue. All three developments were used in preshow reels from 1993 to 2002. In 1993, General Cinema's holding company, by then named Harcourt General, spun off General Cinema as a separate company. The company suffered greatly when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2000 and

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debto ...

in October 2001. On December 7, 2001, AMC Theatres agreed to buy GC Companies, Inc. as part of GC's Chapter 11 reorganization plan. The acquisition was completed on March 29, 2002. With the acquisition, the Credits

loyalty program A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. Today, such programs cover most types of commerce, each having varying features and ...

merged into the MovieWatcher network. The General Cinema Corp. trademark was placed up for auction on December 8, 2010.Racebrook Trademark Auction
/ref> In December 2011, this trademark was published for opposition by

JTE Multimedia JTE Multimedia, LLC is a publishing company located in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania that was founded in 2007. It publishes three peer-reviewed medical journals: ''Hospital Practice'', '' Postgraduate Medicine'', and '' The Physician and Sportsmedici ...

.U.S. Trademark Info on General Cinema
/ref> On March 11, 2014, the

USPTO The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

declared the trademark "General Cinema" abandoned.USPTO Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) on "General Cinema"
/ref>

References

* {{Cite book , last=Pruitt , first=Bettye Hobbs , year=1994 , title=The Making of Harcourt General: A History of Growth Through Diversification 1922–1992 , location=Boston , publisher=Harvard Business School Press , isbn=9780875845098 , oclc=29595433 , url-access=registration , url=https://archive.org/details/makingofharcourt00prui

External links

Some Early History of General Cinemas From the Grand Opening Ad of the Cinema in Daytona Beach, FL
1935 establishments in the United States 2002 disestablishments in the United States AMC Theatres American companies established in 1935 Entertainment companies disestablished in 2002 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000 Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Conglomerate companies of the United States Former cinemas in the United States Entertainment companies established in 1935 Movie theatre chains in the United States Defunct companies based in Massachusetts Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 2002 mergers and acquisitions Smith family (theaters)