General Cinema Theatres of Illinois Inc history

The success of the National Theater led Smith to purchase 11 more theaters in the Boston area by 1925.

By 1935, however, the Depression had ended and Smith was ready to expand once again.

Throughout the 1950’s population growth in the cities of America had been predominantly in their suburbs.

He decided in 1951 to open a theater in a newly-constructed suburban shopping center--the suburban equivalent of "downtown." The first shopping center-based movie theater in the nation, the new Massachusetts theater benefitted from the free mall parking.

By 1958, the average weekly movie attendance was down to 39.6 million, and box office receipts had slipped below $1.2 billion.

In 1960 the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange, although Smith retained a controlling interest.

Richard A. Smith, who became chief executive officer of the company after the death of his father in 1961, has a reputation for hiring businessmen with proven talent for solving financial, legal, and managerial problems.

In 1968 General Cinema began the gradual acquisition of beverages companies which eventually made it America’s largest independent bottler.

By 1970, the company was the largest shopping center theater chain in the country.

In 1984 General Cinema diversified into yet another industry with the purchase of a controlling interest in Carter Hawley Hale, which was at the time the tenth largest clothing retailer in the United States, with Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman-Marcus under its control.

Ives, chairman and chief financial officer since 1985, also joined the company after a stint at Paine Webber.

After having built up its bottling division over the previous two decades, General Cinema sold it in 1989 for $1.75 billion.

In 1991 it purchased the well-known but financially-ailing publishing company Harcourt Brace Jovanovich for $1.5 billion.

In 1994 the company sold a group of 14 theaters with a total of 61 screens for $14 million.

Part of this strategy included selling well-known brands at the concession stands; in 1998 GCC had associations with Starbucks, Pepsi, Taco Bell, and Pizzeria Uno.