Cineplex Odeon Cinemas
Official logo
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| Private | |
| Industry | Entertainment (movie theaters) |
| Fate | Merged with Loews Theatres to form Loews Cineplex Entertainment |
| Founded | April 19, 1979 |
| Defunct | May 1998 |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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Key people
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Garth Drabinsky and Nat Taylor |
| Parent | AMC Theatres |
Cineplex Odeon Corporation was one of North America's largest movie theatre operators, with theatres in its home country of Canada and the United States. The Cineplex Odeon Theatres are now operated by Cineplex Entertainment in Canada and as AMC Theatres in the United States.
The oldest ancestor of Cineplex Odeon was Odeon Theatres of Canada, started as "General Theatre Corporation" by Paul Nathanson, son of Famous Players Canadian Corporation president Nathan L. Nathanson. The "Odeon Theatres of Canada" name was first used in January 1941. The elder Nathanson was rumoured to be involved in the chain, but it was not until early May 1941 that he resigned (for the second time) from Famous Players Canadian and acknowledged his position in forming and running Odeon. The chain, initially composed of independent theatres, was not originally affiliated with the British "Odeon Cinemas" circuit; it was sold to the British chain's owners, the Rank Organisation, in 1946. Following World War II, there was a wave of anglophilia in Ontario; Odeon emphasised their British ownership to capitalize on this sentiment, screening British films—particularly those made by Rank.
Odeon Canada merged with the Canadian Theatres chain in 1978, becoming known as Canadian Odeon Theatres.
Cineplex Corporation began operating in 1979. On April 19, 1979, Nathan "Nat" Taylor, inventor of the multiscreen theater, and Garth Drabinsky opened the first Cineplex location, an 18-screen complex in the basement of the Toronto Eaton Centre. At the time, the theatre's 1,600 seats earned it a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
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Wikipedia