Famous Players theatres

Famous Players

Famous for Entertainment Big Screen. Big Sound. Big Difference.
Former type	Private
Industry	Film exhibitor Bowling alleys Cable Television
Fate	Acquired Most theatres sold to Cineplex Galaxy LP Cable operations sold to Rogers Cablesystems
Predecessors	Famous Players Film Company
Successors	Cineplex Galaxy LP
Founded	1920
Founder	Nathan Nathanson (founder of earliest ancestor circuit)
Defunct	2005
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Area served	Canada
Key people	John Bailey, President & CEO
Number of employees	Over 10,000
Parent	Viacom
Divisions	Coliseum SilverCity Famous Players Colossus Paramount Theatre

Acquired

Famous Players was a Canadian-based film exhibitor and cable television service provider; it operated numerous Canadian movie theatre locations stretching from British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador. The company was owned by Viacom Canada but was sold to Onex Corporation-owned Cineplex Galaxy LP in 2005.

Famous Players Canadian Corporation dates back to the early days of Famous Players Film Company (later Paramount Pictures), founded in 1912, as its earliest predecessor, though that company did not have any operations in Canada until 1920, when it bought Nathan Nathanson's Paramount Theatre chain, which Nathanson had established four years earlier. Nathanson, along with being the 5th richest person in the world, became the first president of the resulting entity, Famous Players Canadian Corporation. In 1923, Famous Players bought out rival Allen Theatres, acquiring many buildings in the process . The Famous Players Theatres chain was always strongly linked with Paramount, and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Paramount Communications at the time that firm was acquired by Viacom in 1994. Some of the most high-profile and popular theatres in the Famous Players chain were the Imperial and the Uptown in Toronto; and the Capitol, Orpheum, Stanley, and Strand in Vancouver.