Plitt Theatres facts for kids
Plitt Theaters was a large company that owned many movie theaters across the United States. It started as the theater part of Paramount Pictures, a famous movie studio. Paramount had bought many smaller theater groups over time, like Balaban and Katz.
In the late 1930s, the U.S. government took legal action against several big Movie studios. The government wanted to make sure there was fair competition in the movie business. Because of this, Paramount Pictures had to separate its movie theater chain from its movie making business.
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The Start of United Paramount Theaters
On December 31, 1949, Paramount's theater business became a new, independent company. It was called United Paramount Theaters (UPT). Leonard Goldenson was the leader of this new company.
UPT Buys ABC
In 1953, UPT bought the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). At the time, ABC was a smaller television network. Buying ABC helped the TV network get the money it needed to grow. This allowed ABC to become a strong competitor against other TV networks. The combined company was then called American Broadcasting-Paramount Theaters.
Becoming ABC Theaters
Later, in 1965, the company changed its name again to American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. The movie theater part of the company was then renamed ABC Theaters.
How Plitt Theaters Began
In 1974, ABC decided to sell off some of its movie theaters. They sold the theaters in the Midwest to one of their managers, Henry Plitt. Henry Plitt then started his own company, which he named Plitt Theaters.
Expanding Plitt Theaters
A few years later, in 1978, Henry Plitt bought even more theaters from ABC. This time, he bought ABC's theater operations in the Southern United States. This made Plitt Theaters an even bigger company.
The End of Plitt Theaters
Finally, in 1985, Plitt Theaters was sold to another large movie theater company called Cineplex Odeon Corporation. This marked the end of Plitt Theaters as an independent company.
