Warner Village Cinemas
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Warner Village Cinemas was a chain of multiplex cinemas operated by
Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...
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 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 ...
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.


United Kingdom

Its first in the UK was in Bury, Greater Manchester.The grand opening was in June 1989,the opening film was Police Academy 6 with stars of the film flown over for the event,Bruce Willis was also at the event with Liza Minnelli cutting the opening ribbon.The chain had 36 cinemas with 354 screens including the flagship in
Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...
when it was purchased by SBC International Cinemas in May 2003.SBC re-branded all the cinemas as
Vue Cinemas Vue International (, like "view"), is a multinational cinema holding company based in London, England. It operates in the United Kingdom and Ireland as Vue, with international operations in Denmark and Germany (as CinemaxX); Italy (as The Space ...
starting in March 2004, including the refurbishment of the foyers, the lighting and replacing screen numbers in some cinemas. During the transition, some Warner Village locations retained the branding until early 2006 as some certain cinemas were owned and operated solely by Village Roadshow Australia.


Warner West End

The flagship and arguably most notable Warner Village Cinema was the Warner West End in
Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...
, London, a multiplex that used to host Warner film premieres. This theatre features two bas-relief sculptures, ''Sight'' and ''Sound'', sculpted by
Edward Bainbridge Copnall Edward Bainbridge Copnall (29 August 1903 – 18 October 1973) was a British sculptor and painter. Best known for his architectural and decorative sculptures featuring allegorical and religious subjects. He was the President of the Royal Soci ...
. This location had a history way back to the early days of motion pictures, with it being an original Warner Theatre from the early 20th Century. A notable event for this location was the 1993 premiere of the film '' The Fugitive'', this was a reopening of the location after a lengthy renovation to bring the location in line with the design of the 'Warner Cinemas' multiplex chain. The star of ''The Fugitive'',
Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...
, attended to place a time capsule to commemorate the event. In 2003, during the Vue rebrand, this location became Vue West End. The interior formed in the 1993 re-opening (aside from Warner logos) was maintained up until 2017, when Vue performed an overhaul renovation to the location to update the tired design and renew interest.


Other territories

The cinema chain also operated in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, opening a cinema in a shopping mall named Warner Village Cinema Centre in
Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
. In 2005 it was bought out and renamed Vieshow Cinemas. In October 2009, the Italian franchise of Warner Village was bought by the
Benetton Group Benetton Group S.r.l. () is a global fashion brand based in Ponzano Veneto, Italy, founded in 1965. Benetton Group has a network of about 5,000 stores worldwide. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Benetton family's holding company Edizi ...
and merged with
Mediaset Mediaset Italia S.p.A., also known as Mediaset, is an Italian-based mass media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE - MediaForEurope. Founded in 1987 by former ...
's Medusa Cinema to create The Space Cinema. It was originally a joint venture between Warner Bros. International Theatres, Village Roadshow Australia and Focus Srl., the local Italian partner. This was the last surviving branch of the Warner Village Cinema franchise.


Sponsorship

From March 2, 2001 until December 2003, Warner Village Cinemas was the sponsor of
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
LWT London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...
's weather forecasts (or simply ''London Weekend Weather / London Weather at the Weekend'' as from Saturday 2nd November 2002), as well as being advertised on some British
Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...
s. On the 2002 video game '' The Getaway'', Warner Village was promoted through advertising billboards which could be found on London Taxis throughout the game.


References

{{reflist Warner Bros. Former cinema chains in the United Kingdom Entertainment companies established in 1996