Cineplex Entertainment LP Corporate History

Cineplex Entertainment LP is a Limited Partnership that was created in October 2005 upon completion of Cineplex Galaxy LP's acquisition of the Famous Players exhibition business. The new name reflects the international brand equity in the Cineplex name and the broad scope of the company's focus on Entertainment.

History of Cineplex Galaxy LP

Cineplex Galaxy LP was created in November 2003 with the merger of Galaxy Entertainment Inc., and the Canadian assets of Cineplex Odeon Corporation. In June 2005 Cineplex Galaxy announced an agreement to purchase the Famous Players theatre exhibition business from Viacom Inc. The acquisition combined Canada's two leading theatre exhibition companies.

History of Famous Players

Famous Players was originally formed in 1920 as Famous Players Canadian Corporation. In 1994 Viacom Inc. purchased Famous Players and invested $500 million dollars in building 43 new theatres across Canada over four years, from 1997 to 2001. Famous Players operated 80theatres with 785 screens, including partnerships with IMAX® and Alliance Atlantis at the time Cineplex Galaxy completed the acquisition.

History of Cineplex Odeon Corporation

Cineplex Odeon Corporation was founded in 1979 with the opening of its first theatre complex, a 21-screen megaplex at Toronto's Eaton Centre. Throughout the 1980's, the company expanded through new construction and through acquisitions of regional theatre circuits in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Washington DC and Seattle. Cineplex Odeon Corporation was merged with Loews Theatres in May 1998, creating Loews Cineplex Entertainment, one of the world's largest motion picture theatrical exhibition companies. In March 2002, Onex Corporation, and Oaktree Capital Management acquired a restructured Loews Cineplex Entertainment. In November 2003, the Canadian assets of Cineplex Odeon Corp were merged with Galaxy Entertainment Inc., to create Cineplex Galaxy LP.

History of Galaxy Entertainment Inc.

Galaxy Entertainment Inc (GEI) was co-founded in December 1999 by Ellis Jacob (former Chief Operating Officer for Cineplex Odeon Corporation) and Steven Brown (former Chief Financial Officer for Cineplex Odeon Corporation). They created a partnership with Onex Corporation who held a majority share in the partnership in addition to leading entertainment executives, Robert Lantos, Chairman and CEO of Serendipity Point Films and Victor Loewy, currently President of the Motion Picture Distribution Group for Alliance Atlantis Cinemas. Norman Stern, President, Ontario Theatre Group was also a partner and it was his group that GEI originally acquired to start the company. In February 2000, the partnership expanded with the announcement of a strategic deal with Famous Players and Alliance Atlantis Communications who invested in the partnership. Galaxy was formed to create state-of-the-art entertainment destinations in mid-size Canadian cities that were generally served by older, out-of-date cinemas. The company was successful from day one and went on to develop 19 theatres encompassing 154 screens over the next five years in six provinces across Canada.