founded 1954 headquarters melbourne key people kirk edwards ceo products cinemas parent australian theatres slogan where movies live website villagecinemas.com.au village cinemas is an australian based film exhibition brand that mainly shows blockbuster mainstream children and family films and some arthouse foreign language and documentary films . since 2003 its australian sites became a joint venture between village roadshow and amalgamated holdings limited ahl forming australian theatres . previous to this village cinemas was the founding entity of parent company village roadshow from 1954 when the first drive in theatre was established and from 1988 warner bros. owned a third share in the chain . 1 2 the village cinemas brand also operates in various forms within some international markets either as a joint venture with village roadshow or under licence operated by other companies . village cinemas also pioneered and fostered concept screen brands such as gold class cinema europa and vmax vmax was inspired by imax where they also operate within ahl s event cinemas greater union birch carroll & coyle and many international cinema chains . village cinemas has output deals with all major film distributors and selectively screens some independently sourced films depending on material . contents 1 history 2 current sites 2.1 australia 2.2 affiliate cinemas 2.3 singapore 2.4 argentina 2.5 greece 2.6 fiji 3 concept screens 3.1 gold class 3.2 cinema europa 3.3 vmax 3.4 coburg drive in 3.5 digital 3d 4 partnerships 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit a former four screen village cinema on bourke street in the melbourne cbd . it operated from 1986 to 2006 with village roadshow s headquarters located in the upper levels the hq has since been relocated to the jam factory near their other cinemas . some of its opening movies were short circuit and the color purple . this building has since being redeveloped and renamed as 206 bourke street . 3 4 5 6 in 1954 the company origins of village roadshow and village cinemas came from the foundation in one of australia s first drive in theatre operations in croydon an outer eastern suburb of melbourne melbourne s third drive in but only the fourth in the entire country established by roc kirby . the drive in was adjacent to the shopping strip croydon village ; hence the company adopted the village name . kirby had already operated traditional indoor cinemas under the kirby theatres name but the outdoor village brand concept was to provide the motor for the company s growth . the original village drive in featured capacity for 454 cars later being redeveloped to offer features such 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 theatre . 1 7 kirby rapidly expanded village drive in pty limited through the late 1950s with the circuit opening in the melbourne suburbs of rowville and essendon ; victorian regional areas of hamilton wangaratta and stawell ; and regional tasmania in launceston . village also went into its first partnership with greater union to build a geelong drive in and by the beginning of the 1960s operated 27 drive in theatres throughout the states of victoria and tasmania . village drive in pty limited then began to expand throughout the rest of australia particularly after the company began adding so called hard top enclosed cinemas in the 1960s . while drive ins catered to australia s suburban and vast regional markets the hard top theatres targeted the country s growing inner city areas where their populations were less reliant on private automobile ownership . 7 8 joining roc kirby in the company s expansion were his sons robert and john who helped out by serving popcorn and soft drinks and graham burke who commenced with the company in 1960 sweeping floors at one of its theatres . burke later became integral to the business joining the kirbys in village roadshow s expansion beyond exhibition . in 1967 the company entered the film distribution side founding roadshow distributors . that operation later grew into australia s largest while also adding film production to its portfolio during the 1970s . 7 the advent of home video in the late 1970s however spelled the end of the drive in theatres . although village roadshow continued to operate a number of drive ins until the 1990s the format itself faded quickly with the growing availability of videocassettes and vcrs the original croydon drive in closed in 1990 . however village coburg drive in within the inner melbourne suburb of coburg north survived this period and is the last drive in still operated by village to this day . however village roadshow responded to these new trends adding its own video distribution and video rental operations in 1985 . 7 8 village roadshow responded to another expanding trend that of the multiplex cinema in the 1980s and 90s . multiplexes were a reaction by the movie exhibition industry to the rise of video ; the multiplex offered a choice of screenings in a single building some containing up to 20 screens . village roadshow became a pioneer in building and converting its existing single or twin screen cinemas into the multiplex concept investing in new sound and projection technologies and introducing new features such as stadium style seating . by this change in business operations village roadshow and their competitor cinema operators were able to attract audiences back into their theatres and were the forerunners to the multiplexes of today . 7 a former warner village cinema in leicester square in the west end of london united kingdom . these cinemas operated from 1996 until 2004 and are now part of the vue network of multiplexes . in 1988 village roadshow sold two thirds in village cinemas and entered into an equal joint venture partnership with warner bros. and greater union to develop a new chain of multiplex cinemas throughout australia . the partnership called the australian multiplex joint venture grew quickly through the 1990s establishing a chain of nearly 30 theatres with nearly 320 screens . the first joint venture multiplex opened in melbourne s airport west as village greater union 8 in 1989 . 1 2 7 8 9 in 1995 village roadshow added a new retail format from the creation of joint venture village nine leisure with publishing & broadcasting limited and westfield holdings to open a string of virtual entertainment shops known as intencity . these video arcades expanded to most states and territories throughout australia usually co locating with most village cinema sites in victoria and tasmania and greater union birch carroll & coyle sites in other states replacing some rival timezone video arcade locations . village roadshow wholly acquired the chain in 1999 and since 2005 rationalised most locations down to the current nine arcades . 7 10 with the company being led by john and robert kirby who alternated in the chairman s position and graham burke who undertook the managing director s position village roadshow began expanding its cinemas overseas in the 1990s . this saw new zealand village force and village rialto became the company s first foreign market in 1991 after it established its first cinema in manukau the original village force cinema closed in late 2008 to open a new skycity cinema in westfield manukau city now an event cinema . 11 in 1992 the company entered singapore with hong kong based joint venture partner orange sky golden harvest to form the golden village chain . golden village s success in singapore further fuelled its international expansion in the mid 90s . in 1994 the company entered thailand entertain golden village and mongkol golden harvest followed by malaysia tanjong golden village and golden screen cinemas in 1995 . by 1996 the company was actively expanding its cinema circuit in 20 different markets including hong kong golden village joining with orange sky golden harvest again . in europe the company s purchase of half ownership in warner international theatres gave it a stake in 135 screens within the united kingdom and 17 more in germany forming warner village cinemas . by the end of 1996 the company had entered fiji damodar village cinemas hungary hollywood cinemas and argentina village cines as well . also in 1996 village roadshow turned to its shareholders to fund further international expansion raising a216 million . the company added a number of new foreign markets including greece village cinemas italy warner village cinemas and india in 1997 the indian operations were a 60 40 joint venture with local firm priya exhibitors private limited to form pvr cinemas priya village roadshow limited . in 1998 it also moved into taiwan golden village south korea cj golden village and france village cinemas . 7 12 in february 1997 village cinemas and warner bros. partnered again to open australia s first 24 hour cinema in melbourne s new crown casino complex when it also opened it reverted to normal cinema hours in 2001 . it also included another new type of cinema four gold class auditoriums a luxury cinema format . by july 1999 gold class had already expanded to three auditoriums in village cinemas at southland shopping centre ; two at century city walk ; three at sunshine marketplace ; and one at the jam factory . also by that time the concept broadened to birch carroll & coyle sites in brisbane ; with two screens at indooroopilly shopping centre ; and another two at garden city . 12 13 14 in october 1998 the cinema europa concept was introduced when three auditoriums were added to the village cinemas in the jam factory closely followed by another three screens in village southland . as with gold class this type of cinema would later be rolled out across other village cinemas in melbourne before expanding overseas . 12 15 the first pvr cinema in select citywalk saket district centre within new delhi . the establishment of this cinema in 1997 started the chain s indian operations for priya exhibitors and village roadshow . the brand continues to trade after village withdrew their involvement in 2002 with gold class and cinema europa screens held under licence it operates imax instead of vmax . 16 in august 1999 it was announced that the village force and village rialto cinema chains in new zealand both being 50 50 joint ventures between village roadshow and nz based force corporation would sell half their combined share in both multiplex networks to hoyts to obtain half ownership in hoyts own nz operations . village force village rialto and hoyts remained separate brands similar to the australian arrangements between joint venture partners village cinemas and greater union birch carroll & coyle yet merged back office operations and marketing leaving half a dozen staff redundant . the ownership structure saw village roadshow and force corporation keep 25 % each with hoyts holding the remaining 50 % . it was estimated by some business analysts that the combined group controlled more than two thirds of all box office sales in new zealand which concerned the commerce commission . however after months of negotiations and legal threats from the commission village force and hoyts jointly announced in september 2000 that they would unwind the new partnership going back to their original ownership structures . both companies said the courts would have upheld the alliance in the end but conceded the costs and time required in legal actions meant it was not worth battling the commerce commission over the issue . village force chief executive joe moodabe told the the new zealand herald there were so many uncertainties and frustrations and the cost as well it s just time to say we gave it a good shot and let s put it behind us . he added that everybody s