Timeline of the decline of Toronto movie theatres

Preface: Toronto before Cineplex (1906-1979)

• The Theatorium, Toronto's first movie theatre, opened in 1906
• Starting in 1957, 3-Strip Cinerama came to Toronto's University Theatre. Cinerama introduced stereophonic sound and widescreen images to the movies and inspired other widescreen formats like Fox's CinemaScope and Paramount's VistaVision and can be seen as an forerunner to IMAX.
• For decades, Toronto basked in a golden age of movie palaces. Cineplex's arrival in 1979 marked the beginning of an end to that golden age. What follows is a timeline of the decline.

1979 - [DEBUT] Cineplex Eaton Centre opens

• first Cineplex theatre
• located under the parking lot of the Eaton Centre shopping mall
• "18-screen complex was once cited in the Guinness Book of World Records"
• smaller "shoebox-sized" theatres of 56 to 398 seats allowed more movies to be played in a compact space
  • "some patrons have been heard to liken movie-going in the small theaters to watching films in a shower stall."
• some auditoriums used 16mm projection while others used 35mm projection
• quantity of screens over quality of presentation
• more Cineplex multiplex complexes would follow:
  • Scarborough Town Centre - 12 screens - "lowest seat count was 63 in Cinema #7 and higher count of 176 in Cinema #5"
  • Hillcrest Mall
  • Erin Mills
  • Warden Woods
• Journalist Martin O'Malley wrote in the Toronto Star on July 29, 1979: "after one visit I know all there is to know about Cineplex and I don't like it a bit. I fear that soon the world will be crowded with Cineplexes and while that may be interesting, it won't be 'the movies' anymore."

1984 - [MERGER] Cineplex merges with Odeon (1941-1984)

• "Odeon merged with Cineplex in 1984 to form Cineplex Odeon Corporation"
• This merger added Odeon's larger screen and larger seat count (in other words, more traditional, less Cineplex-y like Eaton Centre) Toronto theatres to the Cineplex portfolio, such as the Hyland and the York.

1985 - [DEBUT] Cineplex introduces on-screen advertising

• From the Cineplex website: "revolutionizes an industry by introducing on-screen advertising to its Canadian theatres"
• On November 15, 1985, Cineplex got advance word that the Toronto Star was including a column in their Saturday Entertainment edition that was critical of Cineplex's recent roll-out of (shoe) ads in select cities (including Toronto), so in response Cineplex issued a court order to prevent the Star from publishing it. Toronto Star lawyers rushed to Osgoode Hall and managed to get the order set aside by 11:05pm the night before the already printed newspapers were due for distribution.
  • In the Nov 16 1985 column ("On Your Behalf: Cineplex ad adds insult to injury") Douglas Marshall opined "chain is testing consumer tolerance for mental torture in the form of TV-type commercials in movie theatres" and "Movie patrons don't pay $5.50 to become a captive audience for sales pitches." A quote from Cineplex vice-president Lynda Friendly was included: "We think this is a matter that patrons will vote on by their attendance."

1986 - [CLOSED] University Theatre (1949-1986) demolished

• "a single screen theatre that sat some 1300 people"
• "Despite a petition of over 25,000 people, it was closed when the property value became too great to continue operating as a theatre. The University Theatre was demolished in 1986 and, today, only its rebuilt facade remains"
• notable highlights in the theatre's history:
  • projected 3-Strip Cinerama films from 1957-1962 such as "This is Cinerama" to "How the West Was Won"
  • large format (65mm) engagements included:
    • Ben-Hur (77 weeks): Dec. 23, 1959 to May 4, 1961
    • Doctor Zhivago (28 weeks): 1965
    • My Fair Lady (60 weeks): Oct. 28, 1964 to Dec. 21, 1965
    • Fiddler on the Roof (57 weeks): Nov. 10, 1971 until Dec. 12, 1972
  • projected 70mm six-track Dolby surround titles such as "Star Wars", "Apocalypse Now", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Top Gun" and "Aliens"

1988 - [SOLD] Cineplex acquires Imperial Six

• Cineplex acquires the Imperial Six theatre from Famous Players but on condition that Cineplex never presents movies there. So instead Cineplex co-founder Garth Drabinsky starts a new company called Livent and renames the theatre the Pantages where a live theatre production of The Phantom of the Opera is mounted.
• "The move also caused a ripple effect that was felt back in corporate HQ in the US, where long-time President George Destounis was ousted from Famous Players for the loss of the Imperial Six, its flagship cinema in Canada."
• So ironically, what was a multi-plex movie theatre has been converted by a multi-plex tycoon into a single auditorium live theatre. Why couldn't that reverence for the single auditorium experience have been applied to movies as it was for live theatre? Cineplex makes millions stripping away the grandeur of the movie-going experience and turns around and applies those profits towards propping up the grandeur of the live theatre experience. And so continues the accelerated decline of Toronto movie theatres.
• Detailed history here: How a historic theatre survived epic battles

1990 - [PEAK] 70mm releases in Toronto reach high point

• Despite the closure in 1986 of Toronto's premiere 70mm venue -- the University theatre -- 70mm releases continued to thrive in subsequent years, peaking in 1990.
• EGLINTON (Famous Players)
  • Mar 02 The Hunt For Red October
  • Jun 27 Days of Thunder
  • Oct 05 Fantasia
  • Dec 25 The Godfather III
• HOLLYWOOD / YORKDALE SIX / SQUARE ONE (Famous Players)
  • Jun 15 Gremlins 2: The New Batch
• YORKDALE SIX / REGENT (Famous Players)
  • Jun 15 Dick Tracy
  • Dec 21 The Rookie
• UPTOWN 1 (Famous Players)
  • Jun 01 Total Recall
  • Dec 07 The Rookie
• UPTOWN 2 (Famous Players)
  • Jun 15 Total Recall
  • Jul 18 Dick Tracy
  • Aug 10 Arachnophobia
• CUMBERLAND FOUR (Famous Players)
  • Apr 06 Glory
  • Dec 12 The Sheltering Sky
• HYLAND (Cineplex)
  • May 25 Back To The Future Part III
  • Jul 03 Die Hard 2
  • Dec 14 Edward Scissorhands
• YORK (Cineplex)
  • Dec 12 Havana

1993 - [DEBUT] DTS digital sound launches with Jurassic Park

• Using DTS technology, Jurassic Park was the first movie to get a wide rollout of digital sound. Cineplex theatres retrofitted with the new technology included the York, Varsity, Eaton Centre, and Fairview.
• Dolby Digitial has a smaller rollout with Aladdin the year before in one Famous Players theatre, and would take a few years to catch up to DTS saturation levels amongst theatres.
• Having digital sound on 35mm prints made 70mm blowups with magnetic sound redundant, so Toronto never returned to the peak 1990 level of 70mm exhibition, which is unfortunate because 70mm projection generally had stricter quality control standards in theatres than 35mm projection. Being a 35mm DTS release, Jurassic Park was somewhat robbed of "event" status by not getting a 70mm release in Toronto as earlier Steven Spielberg blockbusters did like Close Encounters, the Indiana Jones trilogy and E.T.

- 1997 [PROFILE] Heritage Minutes: Nat Taylor

• Believe it or not a Heritage Minute was created in 1997 celebrating the creator of the multiplex. Isn't the advent of the multiplex responsible for disrupting and displacing the heritage of Toronto's single auditorium movie theatre palaces such as the University (closed in 1986) and the Eglinton (closed in 2003)?

1998 - [DEBUT] Famous Players gets IMAX screens

• IMAX, having primarily been in specialized venues such as museums or the Ontario Science Centre, expands to Famous Players locations such as the Paramount Theatre at Richmond/John St.
• IMAX is renowned for its strict quality control in projection and sound.
• Cineplex makes no IMAX expansion plans but ends up owning the new IMAX locations created by Famous Players and later AMC via aquisition in later years.

1999 - [CLOSED] Hollywood Theatre (1930-1999)

• projected 70mm six-track Dolby surround titles such as Tron and Star Trek III
• "Famous Players closed the theatre in February 1999, and it was demolished later in 1999"

2001 - [CLOSED] Hyland Cinema (1948-2001)

• projected 70mm six-track Dolby surround titles such as E.T., Back to the Future and The Abyss
• "When Cineplex Odeon was granted interim bankruptcy protection two months later, the Hyland was closed immediately."

2001 - [CLOSED] York Cinema (1969-2001)

• projected 70mm six-track Dolby surround titles such as Ghostbusters, Amadeus, Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo and My Fair Lady
• "this two-screen theatre opened in 1969 and closed on August 26, 2001"

2003 - [CLOSED] Uptown Theatre (1920-2003)

• projected 70mm six-track Dolby surround titles such as WarGames and Dick Tracy and later Dolby Digital titles such as The Fugitive and The Matrix
• "the Uptown Theatre was one of Toronto’s largest"

2003 - [CLOSED] Eglinton Theatre (1936-2003)

• projected 70mm six-track Dolby surround titles such as Cocoon, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Malcolm X and DTS titles such as Stargate and Titanic
• "The Eglinton Theatre has now been renovated into a rental hall for banquets and special events and has been renamed the “Eglinton Grand.”"

2005 - [BUY] Cineplex buys Famous Players (1920-2005)

• "from Viacom for CA$500 million"
• This acquisition meant that Cineplex now owned one IMAX theatre in Toronto (the Paramount/Scotiabank).

2010 - [DEBUT] Cineplex introduces UltrAVX

• in the wake of the Avatar 3D craze of 2009 buoying up attendance at IMAX theaters by moviegoers wanting to experience James Cameron's scifi epic in all its big screen glory, Cineplex introduces UltrAVX, which isn't a format like IMAX and doesn't have strict quality controls like IMAX, but it does have the letters A & X in it, so it kinda sounds like IMAX.

2010 - [DEBUT] AMC adds IMAX screens to Yonge Dundas cinemas

• on October 15, 2010, AMC Yonge Dundas celebrated the opening of it's IMAX Theatre with a slate of IMAX films that weekend. Friday's films were:
  • Avatar: An IMAX 3D Experience - Showtime: 3:30 PM
  • Star Trek: The IMAX Experience - Showtime: 7:15 PM
  • The Dark Knight: The IMAX Experience - Showtime: 10:15 PM
• Although this IMAX location was only digital (aka "lieMAX") it still has stricter quality controls than Cineplex's UltrAVX.

2012 - [EXIT] AMC leaves Canadian market

• "as part of its exit from the Canadian market, AMC sold four of its Canadian cinemas to Cineplex, including the Yonge Dundas 24 at 10 Dundas East"
• This acquisition meant Cineplex now had a second IMAX theatre in Toronto.

2015 - [DEBUT] Dolby Vision debuts in five non-Toronto theatres

• "Disney’s historic El Capitan theater is one of five theaters in the world to meld Dolby Vision and Atmos together for a mind-blowing experience"
• but no Dolby Vision in Toronto

2023 - [UPDATE] Still no Dolby Vision screens in Toronto (2015-2023)

• Dolby Vision has been available in televisions since 2016 but not in any Cineplex theatres as of 2023. Usually a technical innovation debuts in movie theaters first and then trickles down to the television/home theatre consumer arena later. (See Timeline of Cinematic Innovations and Their Adoption in Television/Home Video) Cineplex has reversed that trend by letting television have an eight year lead and counting (so far) with Dolby Vision. Dolby Vision is currently in 290 screens spanning 14 countries

2023 - [UPDATE 2] "We don't know what’s happening"

• It is interesting to note that at the time of updating this timeline that Cineplex is making big, brand new headlines over quality issues with its IMAX presentation of Oppenheimer.
  • “After a couple minutes, I guess a manager or someone who works for the theatre came out and said, ‘We don't know what’s happening, we’re having technical difficulties,’”
  • "one moviegoer posting about walking out after an hour of the 70-millimetre screening completely out of focus."
  • As the author of this timeline about the decline of Toronto movie theatres and Cineplex's large role in that decline, these new reports are not surprising to me. But let us not forget Cineplex vice-president Lynda Friendly's words from 1985: "We think this is a matter that patrons will vote on by their attendance."
  • It seems in character that while filmmaker Christopher Nolan is trying to restore grandeur to the movie-going experience through advocacy of large-format IMAX experiences like Oppenheimer, that Cineplex makes headlines via undermining that grandeur with out of focus reels and halting the movie 40 minutes before it is over.
• There's an online petition (Stop Cineplex From Crushing Indie Theatres!) which alleges that "Cineplex has an informal and unlawful arrangement with film distributors that will not allow films to be booked with any competing theatres until Cineplex is done screening the film." So even if another theatre chain wanted to build an IMAX theatre and give customers an opportunity to see Oppenheimer in focus and without shutting off with 40 minutes left to go, would Cineplex have informal arrangements with Universal preventing this from happening? Where do Toronto movie goers go when one chain controls 100% of the IMAX Oppenheimer experience?
• According to its Second Quarter 2023 Results, revenues are up at Cineplex. Net income is up at $176.5 million. Too bad the effort invested towards pleasing Cineplex shareholders isn't applied to give ticket buyers an equally pleasing experience.