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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 Hospitality & Entertainment. Val Morgan sells advertising on cinema screens and digital billboards. In 2015, the majority of Hoyts was acquired by a Chinese conglomerate, the
Wanda Group Wanda Group (), or the Dalian Wanda Group (), is a Chinese multinational conglomerate founded in Dalian, Liaoning and headquartered in Beijing. It is a private property developer and owner of Wanda Cinemas and the Hoyts Group. With inv ...
. In
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
by
Cinemark Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (stylized as CineMark from 1998 to 2022 and CINEMARK since 2022) is an American movie theater chain that started operations in 1984 and since then it has operated theaters with hundreds of locations throughout the America ...
. In Chile it was acquired by Cinépolis, and in Uruguay by Life Cinemas.


History

1909 - 1930: At the start of the 20th century, dentist Arthur Russell bought a share in a small touring tent show incorporating magic and moving pictures. Russell also performed shows at St George's Hall in Bourke Street,
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
, and in 1909 moving pictures was the only attraction. Russell eventually negotiated a long lease for St George's Hall with the purpose of opening a Picture Palace called Hoyt's Pictures. By the time he died at the end of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, 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 1930, the Fox Film Corp. (now 20th Century Studios) acquired a majority of shares in Hoyts Theatres Ltd''. 1980s: In 1982, 20th Century Fox sold Hoyts to Stardawn Investments, a group of four Melbourne businessmen. In 1985, the Fink family subsequently bought out the other partners to become the sole owner. In 1987, the corporation was restructured and two of the companies in the corporation were listed on the
Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...
: Hoyts Media and Hoyts Entertainment. However, the company that owned the cinemas, Hoyts Cinemas, was not floated until 1996. The years between 1987 and 1996 saw Hoyts expand in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. 1990s: Following Leon Fink's death in 1993, the Hoyts organisation was sold to
Hellman & Friedman Hellman & Friedman LLC (H&F) is an American private equity firm, founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman, that makes investments primarily through leveraged buyouts as well as growth capital investments. H&F has focused its efforts ...
and Lendlease. The company eventually went public in 1995. In 1999, Hoyts celebrated its 90th anniversary and was ranked the seventh largest cinema exhibitor in the world. In the same year, the late Kerry Packer's private family company, Consolidated Press Holdings, bought the chain for $620 million. After that, Hoyts began to sell off international cinemas except for some New Zealand cinemas. 2000s: In 2004, Hoyts joined forces with Village Roadshow and
Amalgamated Holdings Limited EVT Limited (EVT), formerly Amalgamated Holdings Limited and then Event Hospitality and Entertainment, is an Australian company which operates cinemas, hotels and resorts in Australia, New Zealand and Germany. EVT owns the largest cinema chains ...
to bail out Val Morgan Cinema Advertising, eventually taking their stake to 100% in 2005. In December that year, Publishing & Broadcasting Limited and West Australian Newspapers purchased the company from Consolidated Press. In 2007, Hoyts was sold to Sydney-based private equity firm
Pacific Equity Partners Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) is a private equity investment firm focusing on transactions in Australia and New Zealand. PEP invests across a range of industries and sectors and in turnaround and growth capital transactions. The firm is based i ...
. The sale valued the company at A$440 million. 2010s: In 2010, Hoyts acquired Australian Multiplex Cinemas in Queensland and the Berkeley Cinema Group in New Zealand. Hoyts Stream, a video streaming service, was set to launch during 2013, but after being delayed, it was cancelled in 2014. Damian Keogh was appointed chief executive officer, and Hoyts was bought by Chinese billionaire Sun Xishuang through his investment company ID Leisure Ventures. In 2015, Wanda Cinema Line, a subsidiary of Dalian Wanda Group, purchased Hoyts from ID Leisure Ventures. In 2018, Hoyts Kiosk DVD vending machines were rebranded as Video Ezy after the group sold its subsidiary.


Cinemas

Features available at many Hoyts Cinemas include reclining chairs, large high-resolution screens under the ''Xtremescreen'' brand, and dine-in menus under the Hoyts ''Lux'' brand. Seats that move and vibrate in synchronisation with on-screen action have been introduced at some cinemas using D-Box technology. Hoyts Cinema Technology Group (CTG) was established in 2008 and helps other exhibitors such as Palace Cinemas install and operate digital cinema. Hoyts CTG also supports one-off screenings such as festivals or corporate events.


Val Morgan

Val Morgan was created by Valentine (Val) Morgan and specialises in advertising on cinema screens. Val Morgan's sister company, Val Morgan Outdoor (VMO), operates advertising screens in shopping centres, gyms, service stations and office towers, as well as outdoor digital billboards. In 2019, a joint venture was formed to advertise on cinema screens in Saudi Arabia, as part of the group's expansion across the Middle East.


Hoyts Distribution

Hoyts Distribution was the film distribution arm of the group which existed in its own right in the 1980s to the early 1990s. It was later merged with the distribution operations of Columbia TriStar Film Distributors and
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...
, forming Hoyts-Fox-Columbia TriStar Films (later Fox-Columbia TriStar Films after Hoyts dropped out of the venture). In 2002, the company was revived, distributing primarily films produced by
Nine Films and Television Nine Television is the television arm of Nine Entertainment. Channels * Nine Network, an Australian commercial free-to-air television primary channel ** * 9HD is an Australian free-to-air HD digital television multichannel using the prima ...
and major independent studios such as Lions Gate Entertainment. In 2012, Hoyts Distribution was sold to StudioCanal, and took the StudioCanal name in Australia and New Zealand in March 2013.


References


External links


Hoyts Cinemas Australia

Hoyts Cinemas New Zealand

Bloomberg
{{Dalian Wanda Group Australian companies established in 1909 Cinema chains in Australia Companies based in Sydney Entertainment companies established in 1909 Dalian Wanda Group Australian subsidiaries of foreign companies 2015 mergers and acquisitions