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2019 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

7. Multiplexes Move Out of Town and Back Again

Author : Stuart Hanson

Published in: Screening the World

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Hanson considers the location, design, and operation of the multiplex cinema, situating the analysis in the context of urban planning and in particular the easing of planning restrictions in the 1980s and early 1990s, and the development of large out-of-town shopping centres. The emergence of a new kind of out-of-town leisure and shopping culture in the 1980s and 1990s is considered in the context of both economic and political changes, and indicative of a new set of aesthetics around shopping and consumerism. Chapter 7 also contrasts these earlier developments with changes to planning laws and a greater stress on town and city centre regeneration since the late 1990s, which have seen the relocation of the multiplex from the periphery of Britain’s towns and cities back to the centre.

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previous chapter The Multiplex is Consolidated in Britain

next chapter The Multiplex in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia

See Stuart Hanson, “A ‘Glittering Landmark for a 21st Century Entertainment Centre’: The Story of the Point Multiplex Cinema in Milton Keynes,” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 33, no. 2 (2013): 270–88.

“Half of All European Screens are Multiplexed,” Screen Digest (November, 2003), 324.

“Global Cinema Exhibition Markets,” Screen Digest (October, 2003), 301.

BFI, BFI Statistical Yearbook 2018: Exhibition (BFI Research and Statistics, 2018), 4. https://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-screen-sector-certification-and-production-bfi-2018-09-03.pdf (accessed 22 November, 2018).

Urlan Wannop and Gordon E. Cherry, “The Development of Regional Planning in the United Kingdom,” Planning Perspectives 9 (1994): 29–60, 39.

Susanne Cowan, “The People’s Peace: The Myth of Wartime Unity and Public Consent for Town Planning,” in The Blitz and its Legacy: Wartime Destruction to Post-War Reconstruction, eds. Mark Clapson and Peter J. Larkham (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013), 74.

See John Grinrod, Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain (London: Old Street Publishing, 2013).

Jim Yelling, “The Incidence of Slum Clearance in England and Wales, 1955–85,” Urban History 27, no. 2 (2000): 234–54, 234.

Stuart Hanson, From Silent Screen to Multi-screen: A History of Cinema Exhibition in Britain Since 1896 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007).

Ibid.

Peter Jones and David Hillier, “Changing the Balance—The ‘Ins and Outs’ of Retail Development,” Property Management 18, no. 2 (2000): 114–26, 114.

Russell Schiller, “Retail Decentralisation—The Coming of the Third Wave,” The Planner (July, 1986): 13–15.

Russell Schiller, “Vitality and Viability: Challenge to the Town Centre,” International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management 22, no. 6 (1994): 46–50, 48.

Department of Transport, National Travel Survey Statistical Release. 26 July, 2018. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/729521/national-travel-survey-2017.pdf (accessed 24 November, 2018).

Department of Transport, National Travel Survey Statistical Release. 28 July, 2011, 10. http://assets.dft.gov.uk/statistics/releases/national-travel-survey-2010/nts2010-01.pdf (accessed 8 October 2011).

See Andrew Gamble, Britain in Decline: Economic Policy, Political Strategy and the British State, Fourth Edition (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1994).

Neil Crosby et al., “A Message from the Oracle: The Land Use Impact of a Major In-town Shopping Centre on Local Retailing,” Journal of Property Research 22, no. 2–3 (June–September 2005): 245–65.

Rod Griffiths, “Planning in Retreat? Town Planning and the Market in the Eighties,” Planning Practice and Research 1, no. 1 (2010): 3–7, 5.

Clifford M. Guy, The Retail Development Process: Location, Property and Planning (London: Routledge, 1994), 70.

Ross Davies, “Retail Planning Policy,” in Cases in Retail Management, ed. Peter McGoldrick (London: Pitman Publishing, 1994), 233.

Schiller, “Vitality and Viability”.

By the time the Salford Quays multiplex opened in December 1986, TESE had sold its screen entertainment division and its cinemas had been purchased by the Cannon group in May for £175 million.

Hilaire Gomer, “Cannon Aims for Multi-screen Success,” The Guardian, 24 July, 1985.

See Michelle Lowe, “Britain’s Regional Shopping Centres: New Urban Forms?” Urban Studies, 37, no. 2 (2000): 261–74 and Michelle Lowe, “The Regional Shopping in the Inner City: A Study of Retail-led Urban Regeneration,” Urban Studies, 42, no. 3 (March, 2005): 449–70.

In December 1988 AMC announced that they were to pull out of the UK market. They sold their eight multiplexes to a partnership of CIC and United Artists Communications, which was renamed United Cinemas International (UCI).

Edward Soja, Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-imagined Places (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), 238.

Barbara E. Phillips, City Lights: Urban-Suburban Life in the Global Society, Second Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 150.

Joel Garreau, Edge City: Life on the New Frontier (New York: Anchor Books, 1992). Garreau proposed that one of the criteria for the ‘edge city’ was that it had, like all urban areas, “more jobs than bedrooms,” meaning that the population increases at 9 am when people head towards it rather than away from it.

Paul Barker, “The Future Is Here and Now: Lots of Happy Smiling People Tripping to the Shopping Mall. But Does It Work?,” The Guardian, 8 October, 1996.

Australian operator Hoyts opened a 12-screen multiplex in the complex in March 1999, the first in a planned expansion into Britain and Europe. However, the company opened no more and its British operation was deemed uneconomic. It sold the site to Showcase in 2000 which operates an expanded 17-screen, 2879-seat complex.

Ibid.

“The Point—Signalling a New Era in Cinema Exhibition?,” AIP & Co. 78 (October, 1986): 29–31, 30.

Allen Eyles, “March of the Multiplexes,” Picture House 14/16 (Spring, 1990): 22–25, 25.

See Stuart Hanson, “‘Entering the Age of the Hypermarket Cinema’: The First Five Years of the Multiplex in the UK,” Journal of British Cinema and Television 14, no. 4 (2017): 485–503.

Ralf Ludemann, “Building a Dream Palace: From Site to Sound,” Screen International 912 (18 June, 1993), 16.

Peter Jones and David Hillier, “Changing the Balance—The ‘Ins and Outs’ of Retail Development,” Property Management 18, no. 2 (2000): 114–26, 117.

Alan Collins, Chris Hand, and Andrew Ryder, “The Lure of the Multiplex? The Interplay of Time, Distance and Cinema Attendance,” Environment and Planning 37 (2005): 483–501.

CAA, Cinema and Video Industry Audience Research (CAVIAR) 20. (London: CAA, 2003).

Tina McFarling, “Cinema Exhibition Discussed at BFI Conference Seminar,” Screen International 516 (28 September, 1985), 11.

Dodona, Cinemagoing 11 (Leicester: Dodona Research, 2003), 16.

Martin Wroe, “Pre-packed Fun in the Pleasure Dome,” The Observer, 8 October, 1995.

Bruno Frydman, “Exporting the Multiplex Model to Europe: The Experience of AMC” at the MEDIA Salles Round Table. The Impact of Multiplexes on the Cinema Market and on their Environment, Amsterdam: Cinema Expo International, 15 June, 1998. http://www.mediasalles.it/expo98fr.htm (accessed 10 September, 2011).

Neil Ravenscroft, “The Vitality and Viability of Town Centres,” Urban Studies, 37, no. 13 (December, 2000): 2533–49, 2533.

Department of the Environment, Transport Planning Policy Guidance, PPG13 (London: HMSO, 1994), para. 21.

Department of the Environment, Town Centres and Retail Development, Planning Policy Guidance, PPG6 (London: HMSO, 1996).

John Pal and Peter Jones, “Multiplexes—What’s the Picture?” Town and Country Planning, 65, no. 12 (December, 1996): 344–5, 345.

Ibid., 345.

Department of the Environment, Town Centres and Retail Development, para. 1.11.

Urban Task Force, Towards a Strong Urban Renaissance. An independent report by members of the Urban Task Force chaired by Lord Rogers, November, 2005, 2. http://www.urbantaskforce.org/UTF_final_report.pdf (accessed 7 October, 2011).

See Stuart Hanson, “From Out-of-Town to the Edge and Back to the Centre: Multiplexes in Britain from the 1990s,” in Watching Films: New Perspectives on Movie-Going, Exhibition and Reception, eds. Albert Moran and Karina Aveyard (Bristol: Intellect, 2013).

Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, A Better Quality of Life—A Strategy for Sustainable Development, Cm 4345 (London: DETR, 1999).

Ibid., para. 1.1.

See Georgina Ennis-Reynolds, “Sustainable Development and Multiplexes,” Journal of Leisure Property 2, no. 4 (2002): 317–31.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Planning for Town Centres, Planning Policy Guidance, PPG6 (London HMSO, 2005).

Urban Task Force, Towards a Strong Urban Renaissance, 2.

Elli Thomas, Ilona Serwicka, and Paul Swinney, Urban Demographics: Where People Live and Work (London: Centre for Cities, July, 2015), 1.

Urban Task Force, Towards a Strong Urban Renaissance, 1.

Quoted in John. J. Parkinson-Bailey, Manchester: An Architectural History (Manchester University Press, 2000), 263.

Mary Scott, “Intercity Express,” Screen International 1131 (24 October, 1997), 12.

Mary Scott, “StarCity Highlights Megaplex Concerns,” Screen International 1269 (28 July, 2000), 2.

Mary Scott, “Executive Suite: Dave Harris,” Screen International 1273 (25 August, 2000), 12.

With the purchase of Odeon by AMC in 2016, the company came to an agreement with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to sell the site to rival Vue. The CMA threatened “an in-depth investigation unless AMC could address concerns over the merger’s effect on the competition between cinemas in Manchester.” See Lee-Anthony Bennett, “Manchester’s Odeon Cinema in the Printworks is closing down,” Viva. http://vivamanchester.co.uk/manchesters-odeon-cinema-in-the-printworks-is-closing-down/ (accessed 24 January, 2019).

“The Film Works for UCI Cinemas,” Designweek, 1 September, 2000. https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/31-august-2000/the-film-works-for-uci-cinemas/ (accessed 20 November, 2018).

Dodona, Cinemagoing 11, 24.

See Peter Jones, David Hillier, and Daphne Comfort, “Urban Regeneration Companies and City Centres,” Management Research News 26, no. 1 (2003): 54–63.

Crosby et al. “A Message from the Oracle,” 246.

Davis Langdon & Everest, “Cost Model,” Building, 5 May, 2000. http://www.davislangdon.com/upload/StaticFiles/EME%20Publications/CostModels/MultiplexCinemas_CM_5May00.pdf (accessed 12 October, 2011).

The Civic Trust, Night Vision: Town Centres for All (London: Civic Trust, October, 2006), 60.

Comedia, Out of Hours: A Study of Economic, Social and Cultural Life in Twelve Town Centres in the UK (London: Comedia, 1991), 22.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Planning for Town Centres, para. 2.23.

Ennis-Reynolds, “Sustainable Development and Multiplexes,” 327.

Frydman, “Exporting the Multiplex Model to Europe.”

Fiona Vanier, “Multiplex Numbers Fall for First Time in 2002,” Screen Finance 16, no. 6 (26 March, 2002): 4–5.

Ibid., 4.

Cited in Ennis-Reynolds, “Sustainable Development and Multiplexes,” 318.

Ster Century was the European arm of the South African Ster-Kinekor company, which in 1999 was proposing to develop 44 sites in ten European countries. By 2004, it operated five multiplexes and one 16-screen megaplex in the UK totalling 73 screens. It was purchased by rival Vue in May 2005.

UK Film Council, Statistical Yearbook/Annual Review 2004/05 (London: UK Film Council, 2004), 40.

BFI, BFI Statistical Yearbook 2018: Exhibition, 16.

Ibid., 16.

See Mintel Oxygen, In- vs Out-of-Town Leisure (Mintel International Group, November, 2009).

Davis Langdon & Everest, “Cost Model.”

Ennis-Reynolds, “Sustainable Development and Multiplexes,” 324–5.

This cinema was sold to rival Rave Cinemas in 2009 and purchased by Cinemark in 2013.

See Hanson, “From Out-of-Town to the Edge and Back to the Centre.”

Andreas Fuchs, “Star Entrance,” Film Journal International 112, no. 2 (February, 2009): 14–17, 15.

Patrick Von Sychowski, “Every Multiplex Is New Again,” Cinema Technology 31, no. 1 (March, 2018), 22.

Dodona, Cinema Industry Research UK & Ireland (Leicester: Dodona Research, 2018), 6.

Jeffrey. S. P. Hopkins, “West Edmonton Mall as a Centre for Social Interaction,” The Canadian Geographer 35, no. 3 (September, 1991): 268–279 cited in Ravenscroft, “The Vitality and Viability of Town Centres,” 2535.

See Hanson, “Entering the Age of the Hypermarket Cinema.”

Sheffield City Council, Report of Director of Land and Planning to Planning and Transportation Programme Committee (7 July, 1986).

See Hanson, “Entering the Age of the Hypermarket Cinema.”

“Seeing the Light,” The Completely Group, 22 April, 2015. https://completelygroup.com/article/seeing-the-light (accessed 10 December, 2018).

The Light, http://www.lightcinemas.com/whatwedo/complete-night-out (accessed 13 December, 2018).

Rebecca Burn-Callander, “Indie Cinema Chain to Challenge UK’s ‘Homogenous’ Giants,” The Daily Telegraph, 30 June, 2015.

“10 years of Warner Bros. International Theatres: Promotional Feature,” Screen International 1150 (20 March, 1998), 28, 30.

Ibid., 30.

Mintel Oxygen, In- vs Out-of-Town Leisure.

Ibid.

Nataša Dˇurovičová, “Los Toquis, or Urban Babel,” in Global Cities: Cinema, Architecture, and Urbanism in a Digital Age, eds. Linda Kraus and Patrice Petro (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2003), 80.

100

Hanson, From Silent Screen to Multi-screen.

101

Harriet Lane, “Fancy a Film Tonight?: Does the Out-of-Town Multiplex Offer More than Just Pricey Popcorn and Nachos?,” The Observer, 24 January, 1999.

102

Tina McFarling, “The Plex Factor,” Producer 12 (Summer, 1990): 21

103

Quoted in Leslie Felperin, “Multiplexity,” The PACT Magazine 56 (September, 1996), 17.

104

Quoted in Ralf Ludemann, “Building a Dream Palace: Sitting Pretty,” Screen International 912 (18 June, 1993), 28.

105

Warner Bros. Cinema Corporate Profile Brochure, in Andreas Fuchs, “Entertaining Designs: Architect Ira Stiegler Capitalizes on WB Brand,” Film Journal International 101, no. 12 (1 December, 1998), 106.

106

Quoted in Fuchs, “Entertaining Designs,” 104.

107

Philip Turner, Warner Cinemas: An Outline History (St. Paul’s Cray: Brantwood Books, 1997), 19.

108

This was closed in 2010 and demolished in 2016.

109

Quoted in Kevin Lally, “A Smashing British Debut for WB Int’l: Manchester 12-Plex Heralds Ambitious Programme,” The Film Journal 92, no. 9 (1 October, 1989), 32.

110

Robert Butler, “A Night at the Pictures in 1994,” Independent on Sunday, 16 October, 1994.

111

CAA, CAVIAR 20.

112

Quoted in Tina McFarling, “Wycombe 6,” Screen International 610 (25 July, 1987), 16.

113

See Hanson, From Silent Screen to Multi-screen and “Entering the Age of the Hypermarket Cinema.”

114

CAA, Cinema and Video Industry Audience Research (CAVIAR) 10 (London: CAA, 1993), 8, 28.

115

“Hamilton Approaches Slough with ‘Fun’,” Screen International 628 (28 November, 1987), 23.

116

Quoted in Felperin, “Multiplexity,” 17.

117

Lee Parry, manager of Warner Village Multiplex in the O2 centre in London, quoted in Lane, “Fancy a Film Tonight?”

118

CAA, Cinema and Video Industry Audience Research (CAVIAR) 10, (CAA: London, 1993), 7–8.

119

Ibid., 24.

120

CAA, Cinema and Video Industry Audience Research (CAVIAR) 12, (CAA: London, 1995), 21.

121

Jamie Doward, “Multiplexes are Cinemas’ Paradiso,” The Observer, 27 September, 1998.

122

CAA, CAVIAR 10, 21–22.

123

BFI, BFI Statistical Yearbook 2018: Audiences (BFI Research and Statistics, 2018), 6. https://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-statistical-yearbook-audiences-2018-12-17.pdf (accessed 22 November, 2018).

124

Dodona, Cinemagoing 4, 6.

125

Ibid., 6.

126

BFI, Film and Television Handbook 1992 (London: British Film Institute, 1991), 39.

127

BFI, BFI Statistical Yearbook 2018: Audiences, 5.

128

Ibid., 5.

129

UK Cinema Association, “2018 Admissions Figures Confirm an Extraordinary Year for UK Cinemas,” 22 January 2019. https://www.cinemauk.org.uk/2019/01/2018-admissions-figures-confirm-an-extraordinary-year-for-uk-cinemas/ (accessed 27 January, 2019).

130

Dodona, Cinema Industry Research: UK & Ireland 2018 (Leicester: Dodona Research, 2018), 7.

131

BFI, BFI Statistical Yearbook 2018: Exhibition, 22–23.

132

Ibid., 22–23.

133

Nichola Pearson, “Multiplexing: They came from America,” New Socialist (October/November, 1988), 53.

134

Mark Moran, “Multiplexes Are a Good Thing,” Cinemabusiness 20 (December, 2005), 13.

Title: Multiplexes Move Out of Town and Back Again
Author: Stuart Hanson
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Screening the World
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-18994-5

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-18995-2

Copyright Year: 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18995-2_7

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