A multiplex is a movie theater

Movie theater

A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

 complex with multiple screens, typically three or more. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an extension or expansion of the building. The largest of these complexes can sit thousands of people and are sometimes referred to as a megaplex.

Definitions

Definitions of what constitutes a multiplex versus a megaplex is related to the number of screens, but often the comparison is arbitrary. For example, 12 to 20 screens may constitute a multiplex, whereas theaters above 20 screens may be branded a megaplex. Megaplex theaters sometimes feature stadium seating

Stadium seating

Stadium seating or theater seating is a characteristic seating arrangement that is most commonly associated with performing-arts venues, and derives its name from stadiums, which typically use this arrangement...

 and other amenities often not found at smaller movie theaters. Multiplex theatres often feature regular seating.

Origins

The lineage of multiplex movie theaters traces its roots back to the 1930s, although the concept truly did not begin to take root until the mid-1960s.

In December 1947, Nat Taylor

Nat Taylor

Nathan A. Taylor was a Canadian inventor. As head of Twentieth Century Theatres, an Ontario branch of Famous Players Canadian Corporation, he built one of the world's first cineplex movie theatres in Ottawa, Ontario at the Elgin Theatre. The Elgin's second screen opened in December 1947 on a patch...

, the operator of the Elgin Theatre

Elgin Theatre (Ottawa)

The Elgin Theatre was a historic movie theatre located at the corner of Lisgar and Elgin Street in Ottawa, Canada. The 750 seat cinema opened in 1937, with the first film shown being Stand-In. For several decades it was one of Ottawa's premier theatres, and in 1947 it was the location of the world...

 in Ottawa, Canada, opened a smaller second theater ("Litle Elgin") next door to his first theater. It wasn't until 1957, however, that Taylor decided to run different movies in each theater, when he became annoyed at having to replace films that were still making money with new releases. Taylor opened dual-screen theaters in 1962 in Place Ville Marie in Montreal, Quebec, and at Yorkdale Plaza in Toronto, Ontario, in 1964.

In 1937, James Edwards twinned his Alhambra Theater in the Los Angeles area by converting an adjacent storefront into a second "annex" screen. While both screens would show the same feature movie, one would also offer a double bill. It did not convert to showing different movies on both screens until some time after Taylor.

In 1963, AMC Theatres

AMC Theatres

AMC Theatres , officially known as AMC Entertainment, Inc., is the second largest movie theater chain in North America with 5,325 screens, second only to Regal Entertainment Group, and one of the United States's four national cinema chains AMC Theatres (American Multi-Cinema), officially known as...

 opened the two-screen Parkway Twin in Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

, a concept which company president Stan Durwood later claimed to have come up with in 1962, realizing he could double the revenue of a single theater "by adding a second screen and still operate with the same size staff." Also, the shopping center structure where the Parkway was located could not support a large theater, so two small theaters were built to avoid that issue, and at first both theaters played the same film. AMC followed up on the Parkway Twin with a four-screen theatre in 1966 and a six-screen theatre in 1969.

In 1965, Martin's Westgate Cinemas became one of the first indoor two-screen theatres in Atlanta, Georgia. Located in East Point, Georgia

East Point, Georgia

The city of East Point is southwest of the neighborhoods of Atlanta in Fulton County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 33,712...

, it was later converted into a three-screen venue after a fire partially destroyed one of the theatres. The Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 family film Those Calloways

Those Calloways

Those Calloways is a 1965 American film adaption of a book by Paul Annixter. Annixter and his wife Jane were writers of books for young readers. The film was produced by Disney and directed by Norman Tokar...

had its world premier at the Westgate , the only film to have been so honored at that theatre.

Screen Wars

Opening in April 1979, co-founded by Nat Taylor, the world's largest theater became the 18-screen Cineplex in Toronto's Eaton Centre

Toronto Eaton Centre

The Toronto Eaton Centre is a large shopping mall and office complex in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, named after the now-defunct Eaton's department store chain that once anchored it. In terms of the number of visitors, the shopping mall is Toronto's top tourist attraction, with around one...

, which was expanded to 21 screens by at least 1981.

In November 1988, Kinepolis

Kinepolis

The Kinepolis Group is a Belgian chain of movie theatres conceived in 1997 which consist of 23 Cinema complexes in Europe, representing a total of 317 theatres. They received about 22 million visitors in 2008...

 Brussels opened with 25 screens, and is often credited as being the first "megaplex."

On December 30, 1996, AMC Ontario Mills 30, a 30-screen theatre, opened in Ontario, California, and became the theatre with the most screens in the world.

Effects

During a high period of growth in many towns, the competition presented by a multiplex would often put the town's smaller theaters out of business. Multiplexes were often developed in conjunction with big box stores in power centres or in suburban malls during the 70s and 80s. The expansion was executed at the big-box pace which left many theater companies bankrupt while attempting to compete — almost all major movie theater companies went bankrupt during this hasty development process; however, AMC Theatres did not go into bankruptcy.

The early U.S. megaplexes sparked a wave of megaplex building across the United States. This was financed in part by a sale-leaseback model with Entertainment Properties Trust.

Largest cinema complex (megaplex)

Kinepolis Madrid opened in Spain on 17 September 1998; it is the world's largest cinema complex and has a total seating capacity of 9,200 with 25 screens, each seating between 211 and 996 people. The world's tallest cinema complex is the Cineworld Glasgow Renfrew Street

Cineworld (Glasgow)

Cineworld Glasgow Renfrew Street is a cinema on Renfrew Street, Glasgow, located in the north east of the city centre, it is adjacent to the Buchanan Bus Station and the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, as well as being close to Sauchiehall Street and Buchanan Galleries...

 in Scotland at 203 feet. Opened in 2001, it has 18 screens and seats 4,300 people.

United States

In the United States, the 14-screen Cineplex in the Beverly Center Mall in West Hollywood, California, became the country's largest upon opening in 1982. (The Beverly Center Cinemas closed in June 2010).

In December 1988, Studio 28

Studio 28

Studio 28 was a movie theatre located in Wyoming, Michigan, the first megaplex and once largest theatre in the world, opening on Christmas Day, 1965, and closing November 23, 2008....

 in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

, expanded from 12 to 20 screens with a seating capacity

Seating capacity

Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...

 of 6,000. (Studio 28 closed in November 2008).

The AMC Grand 24 opened in Dallas, Texas 1995 as the first 24-screen multiplex built from the ground up in the United States. AMC Theatres has since built many megaplexes with up to 30 screens, starting with the AMC Ontario Mills 30. After a lease renewal dispute with the property owner, the AMC Grand 24 closed sometime in November 2010. The building has been divided and is scheduled to reopen in 2012 as a Toby Keith

Toby Keith

Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...

-owned nightclub

Nightclub

A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

 and a 14-screen first-run movie theater operated by Southern Theatres as the "AmStar 14".

Australia

The largest megaplex in the Southern Hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...

 is the 26-screen Megaplex Marion in Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. The megaplex was originally a 30-screen megaplex but was modified to accommodate Gold Class screens. The auditoriums sit on top of Westfield Marion

Westfield Marion

Westfield Marion is the largest shopping complex in Adelaide, South Australia. The centre, its management and all tenant addresses are located in the suburb of Oaklands Park...

, which is the largest shopping complex in Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

.

India

In India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, the mushrooming of multiplexes since the mid-90s has changed the dynamics of the Indian Film Industry

Cinema of India

The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...

. India's first multiplex was PVR ANUPAM with 4 screens in it and was opened in 1997 at Delhi

Delhi

Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

. Production costs are now recovered in days, not months and viewers have accepted the concept. There have been concerns over high ticket prices, and the phenomena has predominantly been restricted to the larger cities, but Indian cinema chains like INOX, PVR (Priya Village Roadshow)

PVR (Priya Village Roadshow)

Priya Village Roadshow Cinemas is one of the largest cinema chains in India. The company, which began as a joint venture agreement between Priya Exhibitors Private Limited and Village Roadshow Limited in 1995 with 60:40 ratio, began its commercial operations in June 1997 with the launch of PVR...

 and CineMAX

CineMAX

For the American premium television service, see CinemaxCinemax is an Indian company which operates cinemas. It belongs to the Kanakia group. The company operates one of the largest exhibition theatre chains in India with 36 properties with 123 screens.It is the largest multiplex chain in the...

 are changing the rules of exhibition in the world's largest film industry. The largest multiplex in India is the 14-screen multiplex by Mayajaal in Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

.

External links

• Short film on the creation of the Cineplex