Hoyts

Infobox Company
company_name =The Hoyts Group
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1926
location = Sydney, Australia
key_people = Delfin Fernandez (Group CEO), Robert Slaviero (CEO - Hoyts Distribution), Graeme Yarwood (CEO - Val Morgan)
area_served = Australia, New Zealand
industry = Film Exhibition, Film Distribution, Cinema Advertising
products = Hoyts Ace Cinema, Hoyts Ace, Hoyts Cinema
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =
parent = [http://www.pep.com.au/ Pacific Equity Partners]
subsid = RCA Columbia Pictures Hoyts
Hoyts Distribution
homepage = [http://www.hoyts.com.au/ www.hoyts.com.au]
footnotes =

The Hoyts Group is an Australian company consisting of Hoyts Exhibition, Hoyts Distribution and Val Morgan.

Hoyts Exhibition manages 450 screens across 40 Australian and 9 New Zealand cinema complexes; making it Australia's second largest cinema chain. Val Morgan, the cinema advertising arm of the Hoyts group, dominates the cinema advertising market with over 95% market share. Finally, Hoyts Distribution is the largest independent film distributor in Australia; a business centred around the purchase of rights to, and subsequent management of, distributing indepenent films in Australia through theatrical, television and home entertainment channels [ [https://www.pep.com.au/pages/content.asp?pid=3 Pacific Equity Partners ] ] .

The Hoyts Group is presently a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Sydney-based Pacific Equity Partners [ [http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/24/2041454.htm Hoyts to be sold to private equity group - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) ] ] [ [https://www.pep.com.au/pages/content.asp?pid=3 Pacific Equity Partners ] ] .

In the exhibition business, the largest part of The Hoyts Group, their main rivals are Village, Greater Union and, to a lesser extent, Wallis Cinemas and Dendy.

History

At the start of the 20th century—specifically, in 1909—Melbourne dentist Dr Arthur Russell, who was, in his spare time, a cornet player and a magician, purchased a share in a small American travelling circus, known as "Hoyts Circus", and travelled with them as the resident magician. After a financially disastrous run, Russell returned to his work as a dentist.

Undeterred, he leased the old St. Georges Hall in Bourke Street, Melbourne(later known as the Hoyts Esquire), and began showing short films on Saturday nights. Unlike his previous venture, it was successful, and as a result, he formed a new company called "Hoyts Pictures Pty. Ltd". By the time he died at the end of World War I, 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 1932, the Fox Film Corporation (now Twentieth Century Fox) secured a major shareholding in the company.

In August 1982, Twentieth Century Fox sold Hoyts to a group of four Melbourne businessmen. In April 1985, the Fink family brought out the other partners to become the sole owner. The Finks began to expand the company, into areas such as film distribution, home entertainment, and cinema operations in New Zealand, USA, South America and Europe.

In 1987, the corporation was restructured and two of the companies in the corporation were listed on the Australian Stock Exchange: 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 considerable expansion, so that by 1994, Hoyts was the 10th biggest cinema chain in the world and was owned by an American investment company—Hellman and Friedman—directors and senior management, and the Australian company Lend Lease Corporation.

In 1996, Hoyts Cinemas was floated and in 1999, the late Kerry Packer's private family company, Consolidated Press Holdings, bought the chain for $620 million (AUD$745.3 million). After that, Hoyts began to sell off cinemas. This trend began in 1999 when their Polish operations were sold, and in 2000 when their UK operations were also sold. In 2003, Hoyts sold its Hoyts America operations to Regal Entertainment Group and Hoyts was bankrupt..

In 2004, it joined forces with Village Roadshow and AHL to bail out Val Morgan Cinema Advertising, eventually taking their stake to 100% in 2005. In December that year, PBL and West Australian Newspapers purchased the company from Consolidated Press Holdings.

Hoyts currently has Australia's largest multiplex cinema screen, located in Hoyts cinema 5, Blacktown, Sydney NSW it measures 28 metres across.

On March 29, 2007, Hoyts opened their latest cinema in Sylvia Park [http://hoytsnz.ninemsn.com.au/cinema/1SYL.asp] , in Auckland, New Zealand - featuring what is now the largest 35 mm film screen in the world [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0703/S00302.htm] and bean bag seating.

In September, 2007, PBL and WAN sold each of their 50% shares in the Hoyts Group to Sydney-based private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners. The sale valued the company at $AU440 million [ [http://www.theage.com.au/news/Business/Hoyts-sold-to-Pacific-Equity-Partners/2007/09/24/1190486174830.html Private equity firm swallows Hoyts Group - Breaking News - Business - Breaking News ] ] .

Hoyts Distribution

Hoyts Distribution is the film distribution arm of the company. It existed in its own right in the 1980s-early 1990s, and was later merged with the distribution operations of Columbia Tristar and Twentieth Century Fox. In 2002, the company was brought back to life, distributing primarily films produced by Nine Films and Television, Channel 9's film production arm, and major independent studios, such as Lions Gate Films.

Hoyts Exhibition

Hoyts Exhibition, the largest and most well-known arm of The Hoyts Group, manages cinemas in five Australian states; the Australian Capital Terrirtory, New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

Hoyts Exhibition also operates 8 cinemas across New Zealand.

Australian Locations

Asterisk indicates IMAX installation in 2008 to coincide with the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

New Zealand Locations

Defunct locations in New Zealand

Hoyts Lower Hutt 5-plex, opened in 1993, closed on 6 February 2008. The building will become the new home of the Lower Hutt Baptist Church.

Hoyts also operated the MidCity 5-plex from 1990 until it closure in May 2003. The site was later redeveloped into Conservation House, the headquarters of the Department of Conservation.

Hoyts also operated Movieland 5-plex (Rotorua) and Movieland 4-plex (Invercargill) both from 1993 to 2005" (Both taken over by Reading Cinemas)"; Movieland 3-plex (Timaru) 1997 to 2000 "(taken over by Independent operator)"; Whangaparaoa 5-plex from 1996 to 1999" (taken over by Berkeley Group)"

Val Morgan

Val Morgan holds the advertising rights to virtually all advertising screens in Australia and almost all screens in New Zealand. In Australia, this includes the circuits of Hoyts, Greater Union, Village, Birch Carroll & Coyle, Wallis, Reading Cinemas, Australian Multiplex Cinemas, Skycity Cinemas, Regent Cinemas and the majority of independent cinemas [ [http://www.valmorgan.com.au/au/about-us/history/ Val Morgan Cinema Network - : History ] ] .

In addition to on-screen advertising, Val Morgan is involved in such cinema-based advertising opportunities as co-branding, poster boxes, foyer displays and live advertisements [ [http://www.valmorgan.com.au/au/off-screen/ Val Morgan Cinema Network - : Off Screen ] ] .

Through a joint-venture with Motivate Publishing, the Gulf's leading publisher of magazines and books, Val Morgan has recently expanded its operations into the United Arab Emirates, representing the advertising interests of many key cinemas in the region [ [http://www.valmorgan.com.au/au/about-us/history/ Val Morgan Cinema Network - : History ] ] .

Home entertainment

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Hoyts operated the local operations of RCA-Columbia Pictures Home Video, known as "RCA-Columbia Pictures-Hoyts Home Video". It was later known as "Columbia Tristar Hoyts Home Video", but Hoyts soon dropped out of the business. Hoyts Distribution releases are distributed on video and DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

There was also four imprints the company had: "First Release Home Entertainment", "Video Box Office", "Magic Window" (children's videos) and "RCA-Columbia Pictures International Video".

Hoyts also had a joint venture with Polygram, forming "Hoyts Polygram Video" at the around the same time as their joint venture with RCA-Columbia Pictures Home Video. Their only well known release was the film version of New Zealand comic strip Footrot Flats, entitled "".

References

External links

* [http://hoyts.ninemsn.com.au/ Hoyts Cinemas Australia]
* [http://hoytsnz.ninemsn.com.au/ Hoyts Cinemas New Zealand]
* [http://hoytsdistribution.ninemsn.com.au/hoytsdistribution/ Hoyts Distribution online]
* [http://valmorgan.com.au/ Val Morgan Australia]