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Entertainment news, celebrities lifestyle |
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Village Roadshow
Village Roadshow was founded by Roc Kirby in 1954 as one of Australia's first drive-in theater operators, in Croydon, a suburb of Melbourne (the first Australian drive-in had opened earlier that year in another Melbourne suburb). Kirby had already operated traditional indoor cinemas, under the Kirby Theaters name. The company gradually expanded its drive-in cinema circuit with the addition of more traditional or "hardtop" cinemas in major population centers. The original Village featured capacity for 454 cars and later offered such features as a swimming pool and a go-cart track, as well as a walk-in area for customers without cars. Kirby's company also built and operated a motel facing the theater. Quick to recognize the potential of the drive-in format, Kirby rapidly expanded his business through the late 1950s and by the beginning of the 1960s operated 27 drive-ins throughout the state of Victoria. Village Roadshow, as the company came to be called, then began to expand throughout Australia, particularly after the company began adding so-called "hard-top" (enclosed) theaters in the 1960s. While drive-ins catered especially to Australia's suburban and vast rural markets, the hard-top theaters targeted the country's growing metropolitan areas. Joining Kirby in the company's expansion were sons Robert and John, who helped out by serving popcorn and soft drinks, and especially Graham Burke, who started with the company in 1960 sweeping floors at one of its theaters. Burke rapidly became one of the pillars of the business, joining the Kirbys in Village Roadshow's expansion beyond exhibition. In 1967, the company entered the distribution side, founding Roadshow Distributors. That operation later grew into Australia's largest. To strengthen its position through business diversification, Village Roadshow entered the vertically related businesses of film distribution in the 1960’s and film production in the 1970’s. Village Roadshow's distribution operation led to an agreement with Warner Bros. Films in 1971, marking the start of a long partnership between two companies. By 1974, VR had added a television distribution component as well. During the 1970s, Village Roadshow turned toward film production itself. As such, the company backed a number of important Australian features of the period, including popular hits such as 1973's “Alvin Purple” – considered one of the seminal films of the period and the most successful Australian film of the decade – and the "Mad Max" series, which began in 1979. By the 1980s, the company had built its own production studio in Queensland, which was one of the most modern facilities of its kind at the time. In 1980s, Village Roadshow became a pioneer in building and converting its existing theaters into the multiplex concept, investing in new sound and projection technologies and introducing new features, such as stadium seating. The group’s developments raised cinema exhibition standards to new levels by utilising stadium seating, the latest sound systems and advanced projection technologies. These cinemas were the forerunners to the high quality multiplexes that operate around the world today. In this way, Village Roadshow and other theaters operators were able to attract audiences back into their theaters. In the late 1980s, Village Roadshow’s growth strategy required greater access to capital. This was achieved through a "back door" stock market listing and additional capital raising through the takeover of De Laurentis Entertainment Limited in 1988 which subsequently changed its name to Village Roadshow Limited. Although Village Roadshow continued to operate a number of drive-ins through the 1990s, the format itself faded quickly with the growing available of videocassettes and VCRs. Cinema attendance on the whole suffered through the decade. Village Roadshow, however, responded quickly to these new trends, adding its own video distribution and video rental operation in 1985. The multiplex system became a response by the theater industry to the rise of video. The multiplex offered a choice of screenings in a single building. At the end of the 1980s, Village Roadshow turned to partnership with Warner Bros. and Greater Union to develop a new chain of multiplex theaters throughout Australia. The partnership, called the Australian Multiplex Joint Venture, grew quickly through the 1990s, establishing a chain of nearly 30 theaters and nearly 320 screens. The development of the multiplex boosted the film distribution market. In 1988, Village Roadshow and cinema operator Greater Union Organization merged their distribution divisions. The resulting 50/50 joint venture was Roadshow Distributors, which became Australia's leading film distributor. That unit distributes films to cinemas and various television outlets; it also includes Roadshow Entertainment, a video and DVD distributor, as well as its own roster of musical recording artists. This year, Village Roadshow sold a 50 percent stake in its Queensland production studio to Warner Bros. The studio was renamed Warner/Village Roadshow Studio. Village Roadshow strengthened its position by diversifying into complementary media and entertainment businesses. This included the purchase and development of theme parks. In 1988, Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow continued to extend their partnership. They agreed to join together in a 50/50 joint-venture to build and operate a new Warner World theme park and studio tour. Opened in 1990, that park became one of Australia's most popular attractions and led Village Roadshow and WB to open a second park, Wet'n'Wild World, in 1991, and later, in 1992, acquire a third, the popular Sea World attraction. Australian Outback Spectacular was opened in 2006. In 1991, New Zealand became Village Roadshow's first foreign market. The company began building up a chain of cinemas there. The following year, VR entered Singapore as well. In 1993, Village Roadshow purchased the Triple M radio network and subsequently integrated it to create the Austereo Group, a separately ASX listed company in which Village Roadshow has a majority shareholding. A year later, Village Roadshow acquired nearly 53 percent of Austereo, which operated radio stations under the Today name. Austereo then absorbed the Triple M format as well, and by 1997 Village Roadshow had acquired full control of Austereo. Village Roadshow's success in Singapore led it to step up its international expansion in the mid-1990s. In 1994 and 1995, the company entered Thailand and Malaysia respectively. Village Roadshow has added a new retail format as well with the creation of a joint-venture, Village Nine Leisure, with Publishing & Broadcasting Limited and Westfield Holdings, to open a string of “virtual entertainment” shops. Village Roadshow also attempted to join the growing multimedia market with the creation of Roadshow New Media in 1995. In 1996, Village Roadshow received additional A$216 million ($145 million); the company launched five radio stations in Malaysia, and acquired 75 percent of radio station in Athens, Greece, renamed Village 88 FM. This year, the company was actively expanding its cinema circuit in 20 markets, including Hong Kong, where the company formed the Golden Village joint venture with Golden Harvest. In Europe, the company's purchase of half of Warner International Theatres gave it a stake in 135 screens in the United Kingdom and 17 more in Germany. By the end of 1996, the company entered Fiji, Hungary and Argentina as well. In 1997, the company added a number of new foreign markets, including Greece, Italy, and India. The following year, VR entered Taiwan, South Korea, and France. In 1998, the company formed a co-production partnership with Warner Bros. that called for a production run of 20 films, including the blockbuster hit “The Matrix,” “Analyze This” and “Space Cowboys.” In order to finance this project, Village Roadshow arranged a revolving credit facility of $750 million through Canadian Imperial Bank. By the end of that year, VR and WB had extended the deal to 40 films by 2005. By the end of 2000, the company had entered a number of new foreign markets, including Austria, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. The international market remained the company's main priority. "We will be a worldwide entertainment giant – if we are not already – in five years," Burke told The Herald Sun. Village Roadshow's most controversial unit is its Village Roadshow Pictures production arm, which has become the focus of the company's long-term strategy in the 2000s. In 2001, VR sold part of Austereo worth A$1 billion ($0.69 billion). VR nonetheless retained a 55 percent stake in Austereo. The company sold theaters in Switzerland, Hungary and Greece. Germany and France followed, and, by the end of 2002, the company had sold off its cinema businesses in Malaysia, India, and Thailand as well. Meanwhile, the company acquired new theaters in the Czech Republic, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom that year. In June 2002, the company surprised and angered its shareholders when it announced that it would suspend it dividend payments that year – in part because it needed the cash for its planned expansion of its production operation. In 2002, Village Roadshow posted sales of A$788 million ($542 million). In September 2002, the company sold off its South Korean property. In February 2003, the company stepped up its rolling credit with Canadian Imperial Bank to $1 billion, and agreed with Warner Bros. to extend their production agreement to a further 40 films through to 2006. In July 2003, the company announced a proposal to buy back its Class A preference shares, which were issued during the company's 1990s cinema expansion. According to analysts, the offer was a prelude to taking the company private, where it could pursue its film-production strategy unfettered by shareholder discontent. In 2007, Village Roadshow has scaled back its international cinema exhibition circuit and whilst expanding its luxury premier cinema experience, Gold Class, into the United States market. In addition, the company has announced a merger of its Village Roadshow Pictures arm with Concord Music Group to form a new Los Angeles based diversified entertainment division, Village Roadshow Entertainment Group. Village Roadshow also maintains a 58 percent control over publicly listed Austereo, one of Australia's leading radio station operators. The company operates more than 130 movie theaters, most of which are of the multi-screen multiplex variety, giving it a total of more than 1,100 screens in eleven countries, including Australia, where it has long been industry leader. Many of the company's multiplexes also provide homes for its game room concept, Intencity. Now, Village Roadshow is led by John and Robert Kirby, sons of company founder Roc Kirby, and managing director Graham Burke. Village Roadshow principal subsidiaries All Asia Radio Technologies Sdn Bhd (Malaysia; 50%) Austereo (58%) Ballarat Cinemas Pty. Limited (50%) Radio Newcastle Pty Limited (50%) Roadshow Distributors Pty. Limited (50%) Roadshow Unit Trust Film (50%) Sea World Property Trust (50%) Sydney FM Facilities Pty. Limited (50%) Tri-Village Developments BV (50%) Village Roadshow Greece SA Village Twin Cinemas (Morwell) Pty. Limited Warner Roadshow Film Distributors Greece SA (50%) Warner Village (D&B) Limited (49.99%) Warner Village Cinemas SPA (45%) Warner Village Exhibition Limited (49.99%) Employees: about 1,600 Village Roadshow Ltd. - 206 Bourke Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia. Tel: (61) 3 9667-6666, fax: (61) 3 9639-1540 © Preems.com |
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Village
Roadshow is an international media and entertainment group headquartered
in Melbourne, Australia. The company is Australia's – and one of
the world's – leading integrated distributors, exhibitors, and producers
of feature films and television programs.