Empire Theatres history

The current owner Gary Pollard purchased the derelict building in 1986 and completed a number of large renovations.

The theater first opened its doors under Pollard’s stewardship in 1993 and showed the movie Alive.

After closure, the theatre was used as a warehouse and by the local TAFE before falling into disrepair. It sat, slowly decaying & seemingly lost forever, until a need for Toowoomba to have a performing arts complex saw the Empire Theatre undergo an award-winning restoration before holding a grand reopening on 28 June, 1997.

To further serve the cultural needs of the community the company also launched the Empire Theatres Foundation in 2003.

With comparably minor interests in the region, Famous Players cut back on marketing and then sold its remaining screens in Atlantic Canada to Empire Theatres in 2004.

On August 22, 2005, Empire announced it would acquire 27 theatres, with a total of 202 screens, in locations from British Columbia to Ontario, from Cineplex Galaxy LP, as a result of the latter's acquisition of Famous Players Theatres, effectively doubling Empire's size.

In 2008, the Kaidas family brought the building back to life with new renovations.

In December 2009, the Empire Theatres chain had 48 screens equipped with digital projection and RealD 3D capabilities.

In 2010 it launched Empire Youth Arts, with the aim to create opportunities for young people from diverse backgrounds through the region to engage with the performing arts.

In March 2012, Empire announced that it was the "first national exhibitor in Canada to complete circuit wide digital cinema conversion", with 359 screens converted, 40 percent of which had RealD 3D capability.

On October 22, 2013, Empire Theatres closed its Atlantic Canada locations after the evening shows.

The Empire Theatre’s newest performance space, opened in 2014.

On April 18, 2019, this location opened.