primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . december 2007 learn how and when to remove this template message the hoyts group type subsidiary industry film exhibition film distribution cinema advertising founded september 29 1909 ; 106 years ago headquarters sydney australia area served australia new zealand key people damian keogh group ceo vincent lloyd group cfo dan hill md val morgan products hoyts cinema number of employees estimated 4000 parent wanda group subsidiaries hoyts distribution acquired by studiocanal who made them stop using their own name and use its name making them its australian branch in 2012 website www.hoyts.com.au the hoyts group is an australian group of companies including hoyts exhibition hoyts kiosk and val morgan . hoyts exhibition manages 450 screens across 40 australian and 10 new zealand cinema complexes making it australia s second largest cinema chain . val morgan the cinema advertising arm of the hoyts group dominates the cinema advertising market with over 95 % market share . hoyts distribution is the largest independent film distributor in australia ; a business centred on the purchase of rights to and subsequent management of distributing independent films in australia through theatrical television and home entertainment channels . 1 in june 2015 the hoyts group was wholly acquired by wanda cinema line a subsidiary of chinese conglomerate dalian wanda group the largest commercial property developer in china and world s largest cinema chain operator . 2 in the exhibition business the largest part of the hoyts group their main rivals are village greater union and to a lesser extent wallis cinemas palace cinemas dendy and reading . contents 1 history 2 features 2.1 hoyts lux 2.2 recliner cinemas 2.3 xtremescreen 2.4 hoyts imax 2.5 bean bag cinema 2.6 d box 3 digital cinema capital investment plans 4 hoyts distribution 5 hoyts exhibition 5.1 australian locations 5.2 new zealand locations 5.2.1 defunct locations in new zealand 5.3 bluewater 6 val morgan 7 hoyts kiosk 8 home entertainment 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history edit former logo of hoyts cinemas at the start of the 20th century dentist dr arthur russell who was in his spare time a cornet player and a magician purchased a share in a small american travelling circus known as hoyts circus and travelled with them as the resident magician . after a financially disastrous run russell returned to his work as a dentist . undeterred he leased the old st. georges hall in bourke street melbourne later known as the hoyts esquire and began showing short films on saturday nights . unlike his previous venture it was successful and as a result he formed a new company called hoyts pictures pty. ltd. by the time he died at the end of world war i hoyts had expanded into the suburbs of melbourne and into sydney . on september 29 1926 hoyts and two other companies electric theatres pty. ltd. and associated theatres pty. ltd. merged to become hoyts theatres limited . on march 27 1936 the fox family pictures logo now twentieth century fox secured a major shareholding in the company . in august 1982 twentieth century fox sold hoyts to a group of four melbourne businessmen . in april 1985 the fink family subsequently bought out the other partners to become the sole owner . the finks began to expand the company into areas such as film distribution home entertainment and cinema operations in new zealand the united states south america and europe . in 1987 the corporation was restructured and two of the companies in the corporation were listed on the australian stock exchange hoyts media and hoyts entertainment . however the company that owned the cinemas hoyts cinemas was not floated until 1996 . the years between 1987 and 1996 saw considerable expansion so that by 1994 hoyts was the 10th biggest cinema chain in the world and was owned by an american investment company hellman and friedman directors and senior management and the australian company lend lease corporation . the foyer of the eight screen hoyts in greensborough plaza greensborough a north eastern suburb of melbourne . this picture was taken in october 2012 and like many other national chains within this shopping centre hoyts old logo remains at the front . in 1996 hoyts cinemas was floated and in 1999 the late kerry packer s private family company consolidated press holdings bought the chain for 620 million a 745.3 million . after that hoyts began to sell off cinemas . this trend began in 1999 when their polish operations were sold and in 2000 when their uk operations were also sold . in 2003 hoyts sold its hoyts america operations to regal entertainment group except for the simsbury west nursery and providence place locations which will remain the locations of hoyts america . in 2004 it joined forces with village roadshow and ahl to bail out val morgan cinema advertising eventually taking their stake to 100 % in 2005 . in december that year pbl and west australian newspapers purchased the company from consolidated press holdings . on 29 march 2007 hoyts opened their latest cinema in sylvia park 3 in auckland new zealand featuring what is now the largest 35 mm film screen in the world 4 and bean bag seating . in september 2007 pbl and wan sold each of their 50 % shares in the hoyts group to sydney based private equity firm pacific equity partners . the sale valued the company at a 440 million . 5 in october 2008 hoyts announced a takeover bid for australian multiplex cinemas amc . the purchase did not proceed although at the time hoyts still hoped to return to queensland where previously they had owned theatres in brisbane and a three cinema complex in surfers paradise on the gold coast . on 17 march 2010 australia s hoyts corporation announced its intention to expand its new zealand cinema operations with the purchase of barrie everard s berkeley cinema group . 6 the two companies completed the transaction in june 2010 after regulatory approval 7 adding four multiplexes to hoyts new zealand presence in auckland . in october 2010 it was announced that hoyts will acquire australian multiplex cinemas . this purchase was successfully completed in november 2010 . in december 2014 hoyts was bought by chinese billionaire sun xishuang who is believed to have paid up to a 900 million through his investment company id leisure ventures based in the british virgin islands . most of the hoyts management were expected to be retained . sun has links to the chinese conglomerate dalian wanda which in 2014 bought the cinema chain amc theatres . 8 on 2 june 2015 wanda cinema line a subsidiary of dalian wanda group purchased hoyts from id leisure ventures for an undisclosed amount speculated to be more than the aud 900 million the cinema chain was sold for in december 2014 . 9 in march 2016 the australian taxation office revealed that despite 417 million in gross earnings in 2013 14 hoyts had not paid any tax . 10 features edit the neutrality of this section is disputed . relevant discussion may be found on the talk page . please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met . april 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message hoyts lux edit hoyts lux offers cinema goers the best seat in the house . ticket holders can use an exclusive bar before or after their chosen film with a selection of food and drinks . food can also be delivered to a customer s seat if he or she wants to eat or drink during the screening . more details on hoyts lux can be found here . recliner cinemas edit in 2015 hoyts introduced their first out of the ordinary complexes with every cinema consisting of powered recliner seating . created for ultimate comfort each recliner features extra leg room wider seating and a side table with a large cup holder . 11 six cinemas around australia are currently undergoing the transformation with most planned to open before the summer school holidays . 12 xtremescreen edit xtremescreen cinemas boast the biggest screen and best sound in the complex with the screen at hoyts blacktown being the largest at 28 metres wide . the screen is displayed digitally . xtremescreen uses dolby digital plus as the system sound format . many movies can be screened with xtremescreen if they meet the chain s requirements . hoyts imax edit in 2008 hoyts launched the first joint venture with imax outside north america and opened three digital imax screens retrofitted into existing theatres at their carousel entertainment quarter and highpoint multiplexes . the first film shown in imax was the 2008 remake of the day the earth stood still . both 2d and 3d films are shown in hoyts imax . only selected imax films are shown . bean bag cinema edit bean bag cinema replaces ordinary cinema seating with oversized bean bags . bean bag cinemas are designed to create a relaxing environment where customers can chill out . in may 2010 the name was changed to bean bag cinema replacing thehalfpipe . d box edit main article d box technologies d box is a brand new motion experience introduced in hoyts te awa located in hamilton new zealand . the seats are coded via motion code and move interactively with the movie . digital cinema capital investment plans edit hoyts exhibition replaced all film equipment with digital cinema equipment within an ambitious 18 month window in preparation for the sale of the hoyts group . citation needed the modernization of the equipment to the current hollywood mandated digital cinema standard is expected to cost the group somewhere in the order of 30 million aud . this amount is subsidized by the virtual print fee received from the participating hollywood studios . this 30m aud cost is also expected to be offset by the significant reduction in staffing requirements exhibitors in the usa are claiming a 90 % reduction in projection staff post modernization . if hoyts follow through with their capital investment plans they stand a chance of relinquishing their position as the lowest capital investor in the australian cinema exhibition industry . hoyts distribution edit hoyts distribution was the film distribution arm of the group until 2012 . it existed in its own right in the 1980s early 1990s and was later merged with the distribution operations of columbia tristar and 20th century fox . in 2002 the company was brought back to life distributing primarily films produced by nine films and television channel 9 s film production arm and major independent studios such as lions gate entertainment . in july 2012 it was acquired by studiocanal . 13 distribution cannon films 1980 1995 when mgm home entertainment replaced distribution summit entertainment 2007 2013 hoyts exhibition edit hoyts exhibition the largest and most well known arm of the hoyts group manages cinemas in five australian states ; the australian capital territory new south wales south australia victoria and western australia . hoyts exhibition also operates 8 cinemas across new zealand . australian locations edit act nsw sa vic wa qld belconnen r bankstown norwood broadmeadows carousel redcliffe woden r blacktown salisbury eastland r garden city stafford broadway tea tree plaza forest hill millennium sunnybank r charlestown frankston ex amc r southlands chatswood mandarin greensborough chatswood westfield r highpoint eastgardens r melbourne central entertainment quarter northland erina victoria gardens mount druitt watergardens penrith tweed city shopping centre warrawong warringah mall wetherill park asterisk indicates imax installation in 2008 . r indicates that the complex has recliner seating in cinemas . it is believed that hoyts operated its southlands complex in partnership with ace cinemas . despite southlands shopping centre signage stating this the partnership never existed . citation needed new zealand