Plitt Theatres
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Plitt Theatres was a major
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 ...
chain 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 ...
and went under a number of names, Publix Theaters Corporation, Paramount Publix Corporation, United Paramount Theatres, American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres and ABC Theatres and operated a number of theater circuits under various names. The chain was originally the theater division of
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
, incorporating a number of theater circuits acquired by Paramount, notably
Balaban and Katz Balaban and Katz Theater Corporation, or B&K, was a theatre corporation which owned a chain of motion picture theaters in Chicago and surrounding areas. It was founded by Barney Balaban (later long-time President of Paramount Pictures), his six ...
. Paramount was required to divest the theater chain as a result of the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
decision in the case ''
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. ''United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.'', 334 U.S. 131 (1948) (also known as the Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948, the Paramount Case, or the Paramount Decision), was a landmark United States Supreme Court antitrust case that decided the f ...
'' (1948).


History

The Publix Theaters Corporation was found in 1925 by the merger of the
Balaban and Katz Balaban and Katz Theater Corporation, or B&K, was a theatre corporation which owned a chain of motion picture theaters in Chicago and surrounding areas. It was founded by Barney Balaban (later long-time President of Paramount Pictures), his six ...
chain with
Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and t ...
Corporation theater chain. By 1930, the company owned 1,210 theaters in the US and Canada when the company changed its name to Paramount Publix Corporation. In early February 1933, Paramount-Publix was placed in equity receivership, under receivers
Adolph Zukor Adolph Zukor (; hu, Zukor Adolf; January 7, 1873 – June 10, 1976) was a Hungarian-American film producer best known as one of the three founders of Paramount Pictures.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'' (June 16, 1976), p. 76. He produ ...
and Charles D. Hilles, followed by voluntary bankruptcy in March. On November 21, 1934, the three major security holders committees submitted a plan for Paramount Publix to be combined with Paramount Famous-Players Lasky into a new corporation. A reorganization plan for Paramount Publix, the first large corporation to attempt reorganization under the then new bankruptcy, was approved by Bankruptcy Judge Alfred C. Coxe in April 1935 to end the proceeding. On December 31, 1949, the theater business was spun off into an independent company called
United Paramount Theatres American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc. (originally United Paramount Theatres, later the American Broadcasting Companies and ABC Television) was the post-merger parent company of the American Broadcasting Company and United Paramount Thea ...
, headed by
Leonard Goldenson Leonard H. Goldenson (December 7, 1905 – December 27, 1999) was the founder and president of the United States-based television network American Broadcasting Company (ABC), from 1953 to 1986. Goldenson, as CEO of United Paramount Theatres, ...
. In 1953, UPT merged with the
American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...
, providing ABC's television network with a source of cash flow that enabled it to survive and eventually become competitive. The merged company was named American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres (AB-PT). No general theater division similar to the ABC division was set up as AB-PT corporate would handle overall theater planning and development. Having only full ownership of 449 theaters at the time of the consent agreement and all joint ownership interest were to be ended. By March 1957, AB-PT's 5 theater circuits had sold off more theaters than ordered. In June, AB-PT decided to sell an additional 90 locations due to decline revenue. In 1965, the corporation was renamed American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., and the theater chain was renamed ABC Theatres. In 1965, Samuel H. Clark was appointed vice-president, non-broadcasting operation of American Broadcasting Companies overseeing ABC-Paramount Records, ABC music publishing, theater operations, ABC Pictures, ABC Amusements and other operations. By May 1972, ABCs formed the ABC Leisure Group consisting of its theaters, farm publishing operations (ABC Farm Publications) and music (ABC Records), Anchor Records and ABC Records and Tape Sales plus a new retail record store division.


Plitt Theatres

Plitt Theatres, owned partly by former ABC Films Syndication president
Henry G. Plitt Henry G. Plitt (1918 – January 26, 1993) was an American businessman and war hero who founded Plitt Theatres. Biography Plitt was born to a American Jews, Jewish family in New York City. He graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University and ...
, purchased ABC Theatres northern group of 123 single-screen movie theaters including the Balaban & Katz chain in 1973. A second Plitt corporation, Plitt Theatres Holding, purchased ABCs's southern circuit of 400 theaters in 1978 for $49 million, thus ending ABC's involvement in the theater industry. Plitt Theatres and it companion corporation in 1985 was owned by Henry G. Plitt (61%), chairman and founder, Thomas J. Klutznick (of Chicago) partnership (25%); and President Roy H. Aaron (14%). In November 1985, Plitt Theaters was sold for $135 million to a group that included a Canadian firm
Cineplex Odeon Cinemas Cineplex Odeon Corporation was one of North America's largest movie theatre operators and live theatre, with theatres in its home country of Canada and the United States. The Cineplex Odeon brand is still being used by Cineplex Entertainment at ...
(50%), Odyssey Partners and Furman Selz Mager Dietz & Birney Inc. A group of theaters that Plitt had previously put for sale was spun off the selling owners with Cineplex managing them until sold. In May 1985, Henry Plitt invested in Showscan Film Corp., which purchased the Showscan motion-picture process and patents rights from Brock Hotel Corp. and filmmaker
Douglas Trumbull Douglas Hunt Trumbull (; April 8, 1942 – February 7, 2022) was an American film director and innovative visual effects supervisor. He pioneered methods in special effects and created scenes for '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Close Encounters o ...
for an equity stake and cash. Plitt became chairman. Showscan Film planned to build a 30 theater chain worldwide that would uses the Showscan film and projectors. In March 1986, Plitt made an $7.7 million offer for Septum Theatre Circuit, an Atlanta-based theater chain owning 78 screens at 12 locations with 3 location under construction with 16 screens total. Plitt Amusement Co. of Los Angeles had agreed to purchase from Plitt 38 movie theaters in Utah, Idaho, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington. By August 1990, the deal was in jeopardy.


References


External links



{{Authority control Movie theatre chains in the United States Former cinemas in the United States Defunct companies of the United States