General Cinema Corporation, also known as General Cinema, GCC, or General Cinema Theaters, was a chain of in the United States. At its peak, the company operated about 1,500 screens,["General Cinema Corporation: Annual Report, 1991," p. 18.] some of which were among the first theaters certified by THX. The company operated for approximately 67 years, from 1935 until 2002.
History
Early history
General Cinema Corporation was founded as a
drive-in theater in 1935 by Philip Smith,
[ who had previously owned a small chain of silent film theaters. Smith had chosen to open the chain after noticing the increasing sales of local Massachusetts theaters, and the introduction of films that were able to accommodate a synchronized sound and voice track into their reels. Originally, Smith planned to open indoor theaters, but had decided to open a small number of outdoor theaters instead (later deciding to add indoor theaters). The company saw limited growth until 1939, when growth began as World War II started, and with it, the emergence of Newsreel news presented with the feature films.
]
Post-war growth and diversification
After the war ended, the company was newly led by Richard A. Smith, who had decided on pushing the company towards indoor movie theaters in future expansion, and opened the country's first shopping-center theater in 1951 at Shoppers World, in Framingham, Massachusetts. Starting in the 1960s, General Cinema diversified into other businesses. At times they owned the department store Neiman Marcus, the publisher Harcourt Brace, radio stations in several major markets (notably WUSN in Chicago, KRBE in Houston, WZGC in Atlanta, WNCX in Cleveland, and WXTU in Philadelphia), and TV station WFOR-TV in Miami. For a time General Cinema was Pepsi-Cola's largest bottler and also distributed 7-Up, Dr Pepper, and other soft drink brands. In 1998, they also formed a joint venture theater chain with Hoyts, known as Hoyts General Cinema, that had locations throughout South America.
Foray into film production
In 1976, the company collaborated with Lew Grade's Associated Communications Corporation to form Associated General Films, which produced films including Voyage of the Damned
Brand development
In 1986, General Cinema collaborated with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to create the first of a brand new policy trailers.
In 1992, the company collaborated with Lucasfilm Ltd. to create new mascots for the company.
Within less than a year, the then-iconic Candy Band was created; soon after, two more mascots were developed and named Popcorn Bob, and Pepsi Sue, three developments that were used in pre-show reels from 1993 to 2002. In 1993, its holding company, by then named Harcourt General, spun-off General Cinema as a separate company.
Company closing
After competition forced the closure of a number of General Cinema locations,
The General Cinema Corp. trademark was placed up for auction on December 8, 2010.
Further reading
