This months featured article
Multiplicity in the Irish Cinema: The History Of The Irish Cinema
Written By Tony Deane
The Article On This Page was First Published in the American cinema trade magazine Box Office in three parts as Multiplicity In The Irish Cinema in 1997. It is re-published here in its entirety.
History Twinnings The Multiplex Back To Top
It’s been called the land of saints and scholars, which is ok if you’re living in a country that still holds on to its old ways. The Ireland of to day is light years away from all of those old fashioned ways that we love to hear about from our parents & grandparents. It’s the most westerly island in Europe the next stop being the states and while some foreigners often mistake it for part of mainline Britain it’s as far away from it as it can come. It has a population of 3-4 million people and research shows that it has the youngest population in Europe each with a vast amount of disposable income. This is spent mostly on entertainment of some sort and the cinema comes high in this order.
When Giuseppe Tornare was writing the script for his film Cinema Paradiso he like all Europeans was thinking back to his childhood when the local flea pitas it was called was a way of life. Children of all ages went to their local cinemas, which were in abundance if you lived in the city and were the central meeting place for those who lived in the country. In the 50s, the island had at least 300 sights north & south each with a singular screen and about three prints to go around. This caused a lot of delay in less populated areas as the bigger films used to play in the city for at least three to four weeks. By this time the print was in bad order it then had to go to the country where it spent the next three years of it’s life doing the rounds of cinemas that changed their programmes at least three times a week.
There also applied at the time a barring order in which films that were shown in one neighbourhood cinema would not be shown in the same area, this gave the cinema goers a choice and the owner high blood pressure. The most popular film at the time was the western, which the Irish people went to in their droves because they had an affinity with the wide outdoors and the easy pace of life. The Screen cinema (then called The Corinthian”) in the heart of Dublin was christened The Ranchbecause the staple diet each week was the old Universal Bmovies; sadly it has been closed for years. Like time itself things got more sophisticated and the westerns moved up a notch with the likes of John Wayne moving on to other types of movies.
Dublin being the capital held at least a third of the population of the country and was where all the cinema industry had their offices. The largest house was The Royalwhich held almost 3,996 people and showed a mixture of cinema and stage productions. The more sophisticated Metropole was where they showed what we call now art housecatering for the likes of Shine& The English Patient”. The 60s saw a change in the mood of the cinema going public with the likes of more classy films from Doris Day & Rock Hudson grabbing the attention, and the industry was not prepared for the latest technology Televisionwhich was about to cause havoc.
The opening of the National Television Station on New Years Eve 1961 was almost the end for most of the cinemas in the rural part of the country, people liked what they could see for nothing and spending 3-4 $. Per week on the movies was too much. The devastation in the south of the country saw almost 160 sites close in the space of eight years and left only about 120 to cater for the small trickle of movie goers. Things were about to get better as was the quality of the movies Pillow Talk”, Rio BravoCome Septemberbrought the people back. Double feature films were to be no more, the attention span had shortened due to TV and a two-hour programme with advertisements and trailers for the coming attractions were as long as the public could take. The twinning of the first cinema in the country The Savoywas a monumental occasion for never before was there choice in the cinema.
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In the early 70s Dublin’s second largest cinema The Savoy was turned into a twin, it originally held over 2,000 patrons and when it was split it held 800 downstairs in no 2 & 1,000 upstairs in no one. The first films shown were Anne of A Thousand Days& Airportboth of which were blockbusters. The Savoy also held a restaurant as did most cinemas of their day and this was turned into a 200-seated cinema, much to the horror of the trade.
Brendan McCaul, Vice-President, General Manager, Buena Vista International (U.K.) Ltd. recalls his days with Rank Cinemas who owned the Savoy. at the time we had committed both cinemas to two films Eye Of the Needle& The French LieutenantWifeand had no place for a little movie called Bugsy Maloneso we put it into the 200 seater, it filled the cinema from the afternoon until late evening, seven days a week”. The trade were startled at what had happened and in 1978 most of the cinemas were split into some sort of extra capacity.
Gone was 4,000 seated Royalwhich had been sold off for an office building, the same applied to many of the fine central cinemas like The Capitolwhich was a converted opera house, the up market Metrapoleand the beautiful Regal Rooms”, all of which made way for upmarket shopping. The Savoy went on to six cinemas, across the road it’s opposition The Carlton(which was known as a horror house because that’s all it showed) extended to 5 cinemas again taking in the beautiful restaurant, It’s sister house The Adelphiaround the corner extended to sixbut the city still retained some singular cinemas which showed art house or independent movies, and in total 24 cinemas were opened to the public by the 80s.
However, things were in for a change for the big cinemas as a flood of pirated videotapes were being shown in pubs and local hostelries, some of them almost on the doorstep of the cinemas. So called art-house cinemas which showed foreign films with some sort of nudity
Suffered most because the videos showed everything, which was against the censorship laws. The fact that you could also see a first run film before a cinema caused devastation.
In the suburbs things were also changing, the local cinemas was vanishing as quick as time and were being turned into supermarkets, some still are. Others attempted to keep up with the public’s appetite for entertainment by turning the cinemas into Bowling Alley’s, Skating Rinks and Bingowas a great money-spinner. However the transport situation was getting better and more people had motorcars so it was easier to get into the city to see the film of your choice weeks before it came to the local
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Fifteen successful years after the cinemas split their main complex into several different cinemas a custom built dedicated multiplex was built on the Southside of the city in a place called "Tallaght”. Brendan McCaul has had a tremendous effect because it has become our No 1 grossing hall, it’s in the top three in Europe for UCI Cinemas.They were turning over one to two million admissions per year and as a mean average you could multiply that by three. Take 40% of that & it would give you an idea of the concession sales”.
A notion that was touted in the 90s when the cinema was opened was that because of the high unemployment in the area people had nothing better to do so they went to the movies. McCaul does not agree, The fact of the matter is that more people are travelling from surrounding country areas to shop in these complexes, and while there they take in a movie. This is good for the shopper and the owners of the sites that are adjacent to the cinemas because both benefit. On one hand, the shopkeeper gets the business, as does the cinema while on the other the shopper is able to take in a meal and a picture, which makes the day out an occasion.
UCI next opened a nine cinema complex on the north side of the city and while it had not got the turnover of the Tallaght branch due to the short distance from the city, it never the less captured the imagination of the public with it’s superior sound and it’s extra facilities. Several months ago, they opened yet another 9-cinema complex in the southwest of the city but so far, it has not caught on, even with a wine bar. Brendan McCaul I believe we have not seen the best of it yet, when the summer comes along the likes of BatmanConair Men in Black” Jurassic Park 2will bring people out in their droves to the cinema”. In 1975 Rank saw no future in the suburban house so they closed most of them yet The Classic Cinemaindependently owned by Albert Kelly was opened as a twin in 1976 and is running still.
Cinemas in the city were hard hit because in less than two years they had competition from three multiplexes that housed 27 cinemas. Rumours abounded in the trade about the impending closure of The Carlton & The Adelphi, which by this time were national institutions. Management reported that they had been hit by the new multiplex but intended to open one in the city, which would bring people back. True to their word, they opened a 9-cinema complex in the heart of the city, which was to be called at the time The MGM Multiplexand right from the start all sorts of trouble dogged them. Between take-over and planning the cinema was finished but not opened for 18 months and by then it had changed hands as did all the MGM cinemas in Europe... the new name was The Virgin Complex”.
The new complex was up against the very well known and reliable Savoy complex, which at this time had six cinemas, one of the largest screens in the country (4 stories high & 60 feet in with which is the largest screen in Ireland) and the latest in digital sound. It was owned by the Ward -Anderson group under the company name of Abbey Filmsand is a two family business; with over 100 screens around the country they were a force to be reckoned with. Leo Ward who was a footballer of note in the late 40s went into distribution with a film called The Hills of Donegal”, Paul Ward, director of Abbey Films...
No one wanted to know about this movie, so my father took it to Cork (the 2nd largest city) and it ran for over three weeks, now everyone wanted it. Leo made several visits to London and picked up the rights to show film that were lying around for several years. When the Carry On& The Bruce Leeseries came out Leo went into distribution in a big way.
Paul Ward: The first cinema the family got involved in was in the mid 50s in Lucan (a suburb about 10 miles from the city) the previous owner wanted to leave the country. He had debts of £ 8,000 ($12,000) and my father took over the debts and gave him £10,000 ($15,000). From then on along with a partner Kevin Anderson they took shares in local cinemas”. They had a good working relationship with the local owners who ran the cinemas for the sake of the town folk. In Cork city they took over The Pavilion Cinema which then took over The Capitol and in turn they got The Lee cinema”. For the first time, they had 100% of the business and the empire began spreading.
Paul Ward... I came into the business in the 70s when we had about 20 cinemas and the distribution deal but because there was a glut of films not all of them were good”. Leo Ward had a cinema in the city called The Greenand while it was not in the exact centre but about a mile away, it was classed as a 2nd run cinema. They could not get first run films so Leo again went to London and bought the rights for the first seven Bond movies for about £500 ($750) each. He ran them from week to week and took in ten times their cost so to put icing on the cake he double featured them and made yet another killing. The distributors saw the potential and allowed him first run movies; he was no longer out in the cold.
The day after they took over the Savoy they reduced admissions to £1 ($1.50) and five thousand people turned up at the cinema. Paul Ward....We realised that there was a pricing problem and with the recession reduced the afternoon performances to £2 ($3) which was half the price of the evening performance...again the public came, and the other cinemas followed by reducing the price.
With a £40 million ($65million) turnover the group employ almost 1,000 people. They are at the moment putting multiplexes up in several country cities. One plan they have for next year is to have a 12-cinema state of the art cinema in the south of the city where there are already some family owned houses. Paul Ward...I can see objections to the plan, but this will be our flag ship cinema with as much attention to what the public want, we intend to have everything you could want in a cinema complex’s asked him why he has not branded his cinemas like the UCI complexes, There can be several reasons for this… unlike a company where share holders have a vote and can be turned down by the majority”, this being a family run business any member has his chance for a say and while you might not agree, you respect his wishes”. There are also different reasons like locations in which the branded name might not work”.
It cost UCI £7 m ($11 million) dollars to open Blanchardstown with an annual rent of £4 million) ($6M) it will take at least 11 years to break even”. According to Ward If opposition comes on the scene, and it looks as if it will, it might take 25 years to get back their investment. Unlike UCI origination, Abbey films did not have the large cash to invest in cinema complexes, when the builders of a north city shopping centre that included a complex offered it to them for over 3 million. They did a deal, which saw the builders getting 50% of the takings after the Abbey group equipped the nine-cinema complex, and this still stands. In the rural parts of the island they took another route by building their own cinemas.
Paul Ward: Virgin are the company to watch, they don’t buy, they rent and its possible that they will rent the new 18 cinema complex which is going up in Quaryvale which is not too far away from Uci’s. Blanchardstown cinemas.
The north of Ireland has always been seen as a place that has a lot of troubles yet Abbey have 7 cinemas there Paul Ward: The north was a natural progression for us because this is an island and the distance is not that far, if it had been England it would have not been as easy for us to defend our market”. Both Paul Ward and Brendan McCaul agree that the multiplexes have put new life into cinema going, people in their 30s & 40s who have not visited a cinema in years are coming back, states Ward and I’m sure this will also extend to the older bracket”.
Last year alone there were over 12 million admissions to cinemas on this small island, at around £5 ($8) a ticket things must be looking up and several things point to an upsurge people, money and a booming industry which looks as if it is going to continue well into the next century. American architects are now planning the next cinemas from their New York offices. The door into Europe begins in this small country, which is why there are so many computer companies setting up here and the immigrants are returning home. To be able to sit in a cinema that is equal to any other in the world is pleasure alone.
Copyright (c) 1997 Tony Deane
Dublin 1997
History
Twinnings
The Multiplex
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