£3,500,000

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16203, 29 November 1926, Page 14

£3,500,000

HUGE FILM MERGER 80 PICTURE THEATRES MELBOURNE, November IS. Details of the greatest merger in the history of Australian motion pictures were made available to-day by the general manager, Mr. G. Slonran, of a new company, Hoyt’s Theatres, Ltd. The company has been registered with an authorised capital of £3,500,000. It represents an amalgamation of the interests of Hoyt’s Pty., Ltd., Circuit Theatres, Pty., Ltd., and Renown Theatres, Pty., Ltd., these three having been known as Hoyt’s group, and those of the ,T. C. Williamson group, consisting of a large number of subsidiary companies, operating in Melbourne and suburbs. The successful completion of this spectacular amalgamation brings under one banner no less than 80 theatres in the capital cities and metropolitan areas of Victoria, New South Wales nnd West Australia. Extensions will have been made by the end of next year to other cities in tho Commonwealth. The effect of the new arrangement will be to bring into being the largest pieturcs-exhibiting organisation in the Southern Hemisphere. As an indication of the huge scope of its operations, it may be mentioned that the new company will have shareholders in every picture theatre in Melbourne, with one important exception, the Capitol Theatre, Swaffston street. The most important announcement by the new organisation is that plans have been completed for the purchase of a tine property in Collins street, which includes the old Argus office and the broadcasting studio of 3LO. On this site the company will erect a commodious theatre, embodying tho very latest ideas, at an inclusive cost of £350,000. Plans for this building are in course of preparation). PURELY AUSTRALIAN. A similar building is to be erected in the centre of tho theatre section of George street, Sydney, on a site already acquired. Modern theatres are also to be built in Adelaide, Brisbane, and Perth. The capital represented and the executive force are purely Australian. The pay roll to the 1750 employees will amount to £400,000 a year. Where possible, preference will be given to films of British or Australian origin.