Village Roadshow

Village Roadshow is an Australian media company with interests in cinema, theme parks, film production and distribution.

The company is a pubilcly listed entity on the Australian Stock Exchange, under the code VRL. It is majority owned (47.6%) by Village Roadshow Corporation, run by John and Robert Kirby and Graham Burke. A further 18% is owned by ITV plc.

Divisions

  • Village Cinemas
    Primarily located in Australia the group also has cinema facilities in Europe, Asia, New Zealand and South America. Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow recently sold their UK joint venture Warner Village Cinemas to Vue.
  • Village Roadshow Pictures
    VRP co-produces feature films, primarily with Warner Bros. Major successes include The Matrix trilogy and Ocean's Eleven.
  • Warner Roadshow Studios
    Production editing and filming facilites located on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
  • Austero Group (Radio)
    owner of the Today and Triple M radio networks.
  • Warner Village Theme Parks
    Located adjacent to Warner Roadshow Studios in Australia. They are
    • Warner Bros. Movie World - based on Warner Bros. movies and cartoon characters.
    • Sea World - a sea animal-based attraction.
    • Wet 'n' Wild - a water park
  • Roadshow Entertainment
    Distributor of VHS and DVD titles to the home market.

History

Village Roadshow commenced operations in 1954, running one of Australia's first drive-in cinemas in the Melbourne suburb of Croydon. The company later expanded into to traditional cinemas in major areas.

In the 1960s the company started its film distribution business (now a 50-50 joint venture with Greater Union) and moved into film production in the 1970s.

In the 1980s, Village Roadshow was one of the leading forces in creating state of the art multiplex cinema complexes. Innovations brought in during this period included using stadium-style seating, sophisicated sound systems and the latest in projection technologies. The cinemas of that era were the forerunners to the multiplexes of today.

In 1989, Village Roadshow took over De Laurentis Entertainment Limited, which brought on a change of name: Village Roadshow Limited. This allowed the company to raise more capital to fund further expansion.

In 1990s, the company diversified into complementary media and entertainment businesses. This included the purchase and development of theme parks, the purchase and integration of the Triple M and Today radio networks to create Austereo Group Limited, and the creation of Village Roadshow Pictures, and the commencement of a co-production deal with Warner Bros.

In 2003, the company incurred massive losses due to several box office flops. In 2004, a move by Village Roadshow Corporation to acquire more stock was halted by German company Boswell Filmgesellschaft, who argued that Village had misinformed shareholders about their voting rights because holders of ordinary shares who also held preference stock were excluded from voting on the buyback.

External link

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