SPI Cinemas is an Indian

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: * Multiplex (automobile), a former American car make * Multiplex (comics), a DC comic book supervillain * Multiplex (company), a global contracting and development company * Multiplex (assay), a biological assay which measu ...

chain originally owned by the SPI Group, headquartered in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

. The company is often lauded for its premium quality and inexpensive pricing. Its theatres, primarily Sathyam, are often used by filmmakers for film premieres and audio launch events.

Popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

served at SPI Cinemas has received considerable praise from film goers and the media. In August 2018,

PVR Cinemas PVR Ltd (formerly Priya Village Roadshow Ltd), doing business as PVR Cinemas, is an Indian multiplex chain based in Gurgaon. PVR pioneered the multiplex revolution in India by establishing the first multiplex cinema in 1997 at Saket, New Delh ...

had completed the acquisition of SPI Cinemas. The group is notable for being the first multiplex operator in India to equip its screens with the

Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels, allowing sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal, nor verti ...

and

Auro 11.1 Auro 11.1 is one of the cinematic speaker layouts of the Auro-3D format, invented in 2005 by Wilfried Van Baelen (CEO Auro Technologies, CEO Galaxy Studios). The Auro 11.1 cinema audio format is supported by Barco, a global visualization techno ...

sound systems.

History

Sathyam Cinemas was originally named the "Royal Theatre Complex" and was built by Raja from Venkatagiri in April 1974. With a capacity of 1,255 seats, it was the largest multiplex built in Chennai at the time. Kiran Reddy, the former CEO of SPI Group, revealed in a 2012 interview with ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...

'' that Sathyam Cinemas was acquired by his family "from someone" in the 1980s. It was acquired for real estate purposes with no intention of continuing the theatre business. He claimed, "The intent was to demolish the Sathyam building. The theatre wasn't a viable business if you looked at the value of the land." However, when he got involved in the business, the family had made several improvements to the theatre. Reddy had taken over the business in 1999 and continued developing the theatre, adding three more screens and refurbishing the existing three.

Acquisition by PVR Cinemas

SPI Cinemas was acquired by

in August 2018. In August 2019, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) New Delhi-branch approved the amalgamation of SPI Cinemas into PVR with effect from the appointed date of 17 August 2018, PVR said in the exchange filing. With this acquisition, PVR became the largest multiplex operator in Tamil Nadu with 14 properties (including Puducherry) and more in the pipeline. PVR is looking to expand further by opening more theatres in South Indian cities like Bengaluru, Mysore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Vizag. As of January 2021, integration and rebranding of all the acquired properties as PVR has started in a phased manner. Also all future projects will be branded as PVR. This includes the state of Tamil Nadu as well. The SPI cinemas website and mobile app is now a cloned version of PVR website/mobile app and the customers will be able to book movie tickets in both SPI and PVR Website/app. This was done with the intention of phasing out the SPI website and mobile app in the near future. PVR has also launched its private movie screening experience and its loyalty program 'PVR Privilege' across SPI properties.

Locations

References

External links

* {{Cinema Chains in India 1974 establishments in India Companies based in Chennai