name event cinemas greater union bcc cinemas type subsidiary industry cinema founded 1913 areas served australia new zealand fiji parent event hospitality & entertainment limited website www.eventcinemas.com.au event cinemas greater union and birch carroll & coyle bcc cinemas are a group of cinema chains operating in australia new zealand and fiji under australian parent company event hospitality & entertainment limited . 1 contents 1 history 2 venues in australia 3 controversy 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit see also cinema of australia the event cinemas cinema chain has greatly impacted the australian culture and film industry and has a history of mergers and acquisitions and liquidations that span over a century . from 1906 to 1911 during the silent era australia was the most prolific producer of feature films in the world 2 a period which included the creation of the first feature length film the kelly gang . this creative and fertile period in australian film history was largely created by competition between west s pictures spencer s pictures and amalgamated pictures . 3 on 4 may 1912 the three joined to form the general film company of australasia . 4 on 4 january 1913 it then merged with the greater j.d. williams amusement co and restructured to become the combine a famous partnership between exhibition wing union theatres and the production and distribution wing australasian films . the combine monopoly was highly influential on the early twentieth century australian film industry . 2 however it came under heavy criticism for its low interest in producing australian films its preference for imported cinema and its reluctance to exhibit australian films by other producers . 5 film icon and director raymond longford whose independent production company had come under attack by the group 6 said in 1927 that had it not been for the activities of that firm in its endeavour to crush it in its infancy the local picture would now be 10 years at least advanced to the height now attained by the americans . 5 historians have traced the sharp decline of the australian film industry in 1913 to the repercussions of these series of takeovers and mergers . 3 7 james sabine has said that the stranglehold of the combine forced a decline in local production and contributed to many australian production companies closing their doors . 7 1930 cinesound studios and crew the combine continued to grow into the 1920s during the genesis of the hollywood era with its focus on exhibiting american films . the great depression saw union theatres being liquidated in 1931 and its assets purchased by newly formed greater union theatres . this new company split from australasian films established the hollywood model subsidiary cinesound productions expanded into radio and newspaper and kept its major focus on building and managing cinemas . 8 due to the depression greater union theatres merged into the general film corporation with hoyts a competitor who had secured fox film as a shareholder . in 1937 norman rydge became managing director and removed the company from the previous merger . in 1945 during wartime there was a box office boom and the british rank organisation purchased a half share in greater union theatres . in 1958 the four holding companies in the greater union theatres group were merged into the rydge family amalgamated holdings limited ahl and in 1965 greater union theatres was renamed the greater union organisation guo . in 1980 billionaire alan rydge was appointed chairman of ahl to become the youngest chairman of an australian public company . 9 in 1984 ahl regained control over the now defunct rank organisation s half share meaning that it once again became fully australian owned . in 1987 guo merged with village roadshow to form the distribution company roadshow film distributors . in 1991 guo acquired birch carroll & coyle . in 2003 ahl and village roadshow combined to form australian theatres . since 2009 a number of movie theatres have been renamed from greater union cinemas to event cinemas . on 22 december 2015 ahl was renamed event hospitality and entertainment . a man outside an event cinemas theatre venues in australia edit event cinemas have over fifty movie theatre venues around australia many located in large shopping centres . the cinema complexes comprise multiple screens . with cinema admissions in decline event cinemas has continued to experience growth by raising the price of admissions and offering premium experiences such as gold class which offers more luxury seating and food vmax which offers a larger screen and alternate content including bollywood films football gaming film festivals opera and standup comedy events . 10 11 12 controversy edit the exhibition and production company that became event cinemas has been widely criticised as the cause of the downfall of early australian film which was argued to be the best in the world at the time . 3 7 in 2005 event cinemas banned people from bringing their own food and drink into the cinema . after negative public attention and a threat of investigation by the fair trading commission they were forced to revoke the rule . people complained that event cinema s food cost more than double the price in supermarket stores and had less variety . 13 14 15 16 in 2012 australian journalist tim burrowes attended a screening of skyfall at an event cinema . there were various technical difficulties which resulted in the audience being asked to leave and a manager threatening burrowes for filming the crowd s reactions . 17 in the lead up to the 2016 australian federal election chairman alan rydge was reported to have donated to prime minister malcolm turnbull s controversial political fund the wentworth forum . 18 19 20 in august 2016 a popcorn machine malfunctioned and a fire broke out at parramatta event cinemas in sydney leading to the evacuation of 300 people . 21 see also edit australian theatres hoyts the movie masters cinema group village cinemas wallis cinemas warner village cinemas v t e cinema of australia culture of australia world cinema films a z by decade pre 1910 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s by year 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 production companies and studios cinesound commonwealth film laboratories film australia film victoria fox studios frame set & match kennedy miller mitchell new south wales film and television office pagewood studios palace south australian film corporation screen queensland screenwest village roadshow pictures village roadshow studios schools organisations australian academy of cinema and television arts aacta australian cinematographers society australian costumers guild australian directors guild australian film institute afi australian classification board australian guild of screen composers australian production design guild australian screen editors australian writers guild film critics circle of australia fti screen australia screen producers australia awards aacta awards acs awards adg awards apdg awards ase awards atom awards awgie awards film critics circle of australia awards inside film awards screen music awards festivals theatres ace cinemas australian multiplex cinemas event cinemas grand cinemas hoyts palace films and cinemas village cinemas wallis cinemas personnel actors animators cinematographers composers critics directors editors films a z producers screenwriters references edit http www.eventcinemas.com.au terms a b amalgamated pictures limited . sunday times sydney nsw 1895 1930 12 apr 1914 . trove . retrieved 2016 08 29 . a b c the first wave of australian feature film production from early promise to fading hopes pdf . australian film commission archive . screen australia . retrieved 29 august 2016 . amalgamated pictures limited . sunday times sydney nsw 1895 1930 12 apr 1914 . trove . retrieved 2016 08 29 . a b film . trove . retrieved 2016 08 29 . mayer geoff ; beattie keith 2007 01 01 . the cinema of australia and new zealand . wallflower press . isbn 9781904764960 . a b c chronology 1910s on aso australia s audio and visual heritage online . aso.gov.au . retrieved 2016 08 29 . caarp cinema and audience research project . caarp.edu.au . retrieved 2016 08 29 . alan ridge australian billionaire and business prodigy . retrieved 29 august 2016 . quinn karl . a cinema ticket in australia can cost up to 40 . here s why . retrieved 2016 08 29 . event hospitality & entertainment limited financial results for the half year ended 31 december 2015 pdf . retrieved 29 august 2016 . alternate content . cinema chain pulls food ban . 2005 06 23 . retrieved 2016 08 29 . cinema chain scraps snack ban . www.findlaw.com.au . retrieved 2016 08 29 . greater union food ban is incredible say moviegoers national www.smh.com.au . www.smh.com.au . retrieved 2016 08 29 . kidman angus . ask lh can cinemas stop me bringing my own food to the movies . retrieved 2016 08 29 . skyfail how event cinemas kicked 700 people out of the bond movie and threatened to have me arrested mumbrella . 2012 11 26 . retrieved 2016 08 29 . mccoll gina 2016 06 19 . new expose of libs exploiting donations loopholes ensares turnbull . retrieved 2016 08 29 . thomson james 2009 07 14 . rich entrepreneurs flock to support malcolm turnbull smartcompany . retrieved 2016 08 29 . money and influence . abc s four corners . retrieved 29 august 2016 . popcorn machine fire forces evacuation of parramatta cinema . 2016 08 17 . retrieved 2016 08 29 . external links edit event cinemas australia official site event cinemas new zealand official site event hospitality & entertainment limited official site event cinemas australia facebook event cinemas australia twitter retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title event cinemas & oldid 742985645 categories cinema chains in australiacinemas in new zealandentertainment companies established in 19341934 establishments in australia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages bahasa melayu edit links this page was last modified on 7 october 2016 at 02 16 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view