![]() ABC-TV lost its franchises in 1968, and was merged with Rediffusion to become Thames Television.Īs a result of the decline many suburban ABC theatres closed. Television led to a sharp decline in cinema audiences after 1952 though with the coming of commercial television from 1955 ABPC had expanded into the new medium with the creation of ABC Television Limited, which gained the Independent Television contracts for the North of England and Midlands at the weekend. Rival ABC, Odeon and Gaumont cinemas in a town showed their own releases and barred each other from showing the same film. ABC had access to Warner Brothers, MGM and its own ABPC productions, whereas rival Rank had 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Walt Disney, Columbia, Universal, United Artists and its own productions. UK exhibition was characterised by alignments between distributors and exhibitors. By the close of the 1950s ABC had started rebranding most cinemas as ABC and dropped names like Regal. ABC also ran cinemas under the Ritz brand such as the Ritz Cinema, Muswell Hill.Īfter his death in 1940, his widow Catherine sold a large number of shares to Warner Brothers, who eventually became the largest shareholders and able to exercise control, though ABPC was separately quoted on the London Stock Exchange.īy 1945 it operated over 400 cinemas (usually called the Savoy or Regal) and was second only to Rank's Odeon and Gaumont chains. In 1937, the parent company, BIP was renamed Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC). Existing cinemas which could not be re-modelled were usually operated as separate circuits. It acquired First National Pathé Limited which gave it trading connections to First National Pictures in the United States. Glen, who had been appointed in about 1929 and maintained a distinct house style. ĭuring the 1930s, it grew rapidly by acquisitions and an ambitious building programme under the direction of chief architect W. It became a wholly owned cinema subsidiary of British International Pictures when it was merged with the production arm of British National Pictures Studios, which had been formed by Maxwell in 1926. Early years ĪBC Cinemas was established in 1927 by solicitor John Maxwell by merging three smaller Scottish cinema circuits. ![]() ![]() Replaced by Character Theatre and Discovery Studio in 2013. The Old ABC Cinema at Butlins Bognor Regis, West Sussex. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |