CinemaxX

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CinemaxX Holdings GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding July 1998
Seat Hamburg , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management Frank Thomsen, Stephen Jeremy Knibbs, Alison Cornwell, James Timothy Richards, Managing Directors
Number of employees 2000
sales 212 million euros
Branch Cinema operators
Website www.cinemaxx.de
As of April 25, 2014

The CinemaxX Holdings GmbH is a German theater company and subsidiary of Vue Entertainment .

The enterprise

The CinemaxX Holdings GmbH was as CinemaxX AG founded in 1998th The company operates 29 CinemaxX branded cinema centers in Germany and three more in neighboring Denmark (as of July 2012). It was the first cinema company to be listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. As part of the takeover by Vue Beteiligungs GmbH , a stock exchange delisting was carried out on April 25, 2014. The company's founder and long-term chairman of the board was Hans-Joachim Flebbe , the Hanoverian cinema king . In some cities, such as Hanover, one sometimes speaks of the Flebbe cinemas .

After Flebbe withdrew to the supervisory board, the previous second member of the board for "Human Resources, Finance and IT", Christian Gisy, headed the group as sole board member until mid-2008. On December 11, 2008, Thilo Rieg was appointed second member of the board. On January 21, 2009, Flebbe resigned from the Supervisory Board, which was cut in half from twelve to six members. On June 1, 2012, CinemaxX AG parted ways with the previous second director Thilo Rieg by mutual agreement. On July 4, 2012, the Supervisory Board appointed Christoph Ahmadi to the Management Board. The company has been led by Carsten Horn since February 2015.

The largest shareholder was the film dealer Herbert Kloiber , whose Tele München Group owned around 69 percent of the largest German film theater group as of August 12, 2009 and increased its stake to 72.5% through a capital increase in March 2010. On July 10, 2012 it was announced that the British cinema operator Vue Entertainment would like to take over CinemaxX AG for around 174 million euros. After taking over 95 percent of the shares, an application was made in October 2012 for the squeeze-out of the minority shareholders, which was successfully completed on February 6, 2014.

In the course of the takeover, CinemaxX AG was converted into CinemaxX Holdings GmbH .

CinemaxX Holdings GmbH currently operates 33 multiplex cinemas with 289 screens and around 73,000 seats in Germany and Denmark . In addition to the multiplex cinemas, CinemaxX Holdings GmbH also operates a traditional cinema, the Holi in Hamburg . At Cinemaxx in Mannheim is CinemaxX Holdings GmbH holds a ten per cent, the remaining 90 percent are owned by Cineplex group. The CinemaxX Holdings GmbH employs around 2,000 staff and has its headquarters in Hamburg.

A Cinemaxx store opened in Darmstadt in the spring of 2000, which was taken over by the Kinopolis Group in the same year , but still bore the Cinemaxx logo until December 2013.

history

Apollokino in Hanover, Limmerstrasse
Hans-Joachim Flebbe on November 15, 2000 at the opening of the Cinemaxx Heilbronn

Beginnings

In 1973, Cinemaxx company founder Hans-Joachim Flebbe entered the cinema industry. As a student, he asked at the box office of the Apollo cinema in Hanover whether film proposals would be accepted. His programming brought back sold-out performances to the theater, which was previously in crisis.

In 1977 Flebbe opened his first own cinema in Hanover on Raschplatz . Just one year later, the cinema on Raschplatz received an award for an “excellent annual program” from the Federal Ministry of the Interior . In the 1980s, the company took over numerous other cinemas in Germany, including the Holi in Hamburg and the Lupe cinemas in Braunschweig and Berlin.

Entry into the multiplex business

In 1989, Hans-Joachim Flebbe founded the Cinemaxx company together with media entrepreneurs Rolf Deyhle and Bodo Scriba . The first Cinemaxx opened in Hanover on March 8, 1991 . On December 11th of the same year the house in Essen followed , which with its 16 halls and a total of 5300 seats remained the largest multiplex cinema in Germany until December 2011 . As early as 1992, the Cinemaxx Hannover was the economically most successful cinema in Germany, followed by the Cinemaxx Essen. On the Brussels Exhibition Cinema EXPO Flebbe was named "Pioneer of the Year 1992".

expansion

Neon sign at the Cinemaxx Hannover (Nikolaistraße)

In 1993 the Maxx in Munich and in 1995 the Cinemaxx cinemas in Kiel and Halle were opened. Other new openings in 1996 were the stores in Magdeburg and Göttingen.

On October 3, 1996, the "Filmfestspielhaus" Cinemaxx Hamburg-Dammtor was added, located southeast of the station of the same name. With 969 seats - which was generously "virtually expanded" to 1001 seats for advertising - the largest new hall in Germany after the cinema industry in the 1970s and 1980s in the opposite direction to convert large cinemas into cinema centers, some of which were tiny Rooms ("box cinemas"). Over the years, several big premieres have taken place here in the presence of many stars, including Contact with Jodie Foster , Eyes Wide Shut with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman , Postman with Kevin Costner and the 2004 German premieres of Catwoman and Der Polarexpress .

In 1997 Cinemaxx built five more multiplexes in Germany, including the Cinemaxx Berlin-Colosseum. In 1998 Cinemaxxe followed in Bremen , Regensburg , Mülheim an der Ruhr , Berlin-Hohenschönhausen , Bielefeld and the film festival theater Cinemaxx Berlin- Potsdamer Platz , which is also used annually for the Berlinale . A further twelve cinema complexes were added in 1999 and 2000. The last Cinemaxx cinemas opened in Germany were those in Heilbronn , Wolfsburg , Dresden and Braunschweig (2000), the second Cinemaxx cinemas in Hanover (December 14, 2000), Stuttgart , Delmenhorst (2001) and Halle-Neustadt (2002).

Takeover of the Ufa cinemas

In 2000, CinemaxX AG took over the operational management of the Ufa cinemas through an equity stake and an agency agreement . This merger resulted in 623 screens at 54 locations with around 30 million cinema-goers (1999), Germany's largest cinema group at that time. However, the cooperation only lasted a few months, since after the multiplex construction boom and the number of visitors declined, many cities were oversupplied and the Cinemaxx and Ufa theaters were also in direct competition at some locations. In 2003, the competitor Cinestar took over the Ufa cinemas and replaced Cinemaxx as the industry leader.

From 2009 on

In summer 2009 it was announced that Cinemaxx would install technology for showing 3D films in 60 halls across Germany by the end of the year . The company invested over five million euros in this. Technology from Sony and Real-D is used under the name MaxXimum 3D . The maximum resolution should be 4K (2K for 3D films).

On August 1, 2013, the Cinemaxx, which opened in 1991 as the first Cinemaxx cinema ever, was closed in Hanover's Nikolaistraße. The CinemaxX AG could not agree with Hans-Joachim Flebbe, the property bought in 2012 for an extension of the lease itself. A year later, the former Cinemaxx opened after renovations to “Germany's largest premium cinema” with increased comfort and again under Flebbe's direction under the name Astor Grand Cinema , now in the city in competition with the existing Cinemaxx cinema.

In October 2018, parent company Vue announced that it would also take over competitor Cinestar. The market leader is thus expanding its lead over the No. 2, the Cineplex group.

Cinemaxx abroad

CinemaxX AG has also opened cinemas abroad. After the first opening of a Cinemaxx in Ankara ( Turkey ) in 1998, further cinemas were opened in Europe , in Emmenbrücke in Switzerland (2000), in Odense , Copenhagen and Aarhus (all three in Denmark ) as well as in Barcelona and other parts of Spain .

With the exception of the Danish cinemas, the foreign holdings have now all been sold again.

Cinema locations

Germany

place opening Halls Seats image
augsburg January 13, 2000 9 2427
Berlin -Potsdamer Platz September 3, 1998 19th 3539 Berlinale Cinemaxx at Potsdamer Platz.JPG
Bielefeld December 17, 1998 8th 2648 CinemaxX-BI.jpg
Bremen April 30, 1998 10 3053 Cinemaxx Bremen0002.JPG
Dresden taken over in January 2008 8th 1991 Dresden-Schillergalerie.jpg
eat December 12, 1991 16 5067 Cinemaxx Essen.jpg
Freiburg October 23, 1997 9 2210 Cinemaxx in Freiburg's Bertoldstrasse 4.jpg
Goettingen December 15, 1996 9 1725
Hall October 25, 1995 10 2250 HAL-Charlottencenter Cinemaxx.JPG
Hamburg -Dammtor October 3, 1996 8th 2730 Cinemaxx hamburg dammtor.jpg
Hamburg- Harburg October 7, 1999 7th 1691 CinemaxX-Harburg IMG 20200524 150815.jpg
Hamburg- Wandsbek November 9, 2000 5 1411 Hamburg Wandsbek DS602.jpg
Hamm December 13, 2018 6th 1793
Hanover December 14, 2000 10 2848 Cinemaxx Hannover Nikolaistraße corner Celler Straße Alter St. Nikolai Friedhof.jpg
Heilbronn November 16, 2000 6th 1506
Kiel March 8, 1995 10 3090 Central station (Kiel 39.911) .jpg
Krefeld 4th September 1997 10 2228 Krefeld, CinemaxX.jpg
Magdeburg October 25, 1996 9 2694 Cinemaxx-Magdeburg.jpg
Mülheim December 10, 1998 11 3359 RheinRuhrZentrum2008.jpg
Munich 2nd September 1993 7th 1501
Offenbach November 25, 1999 7th 1650
Oldenburg February 18, 1999 8th 2000
regensburg December 3, 1998 8th 2052
Sindelfingen taken over in November 2005 9 1699
Stuttgart at the Liederhalle February 8, 2001 6th 1526
Stuttgart in the SI Center December 6, 1997 6th 1500 Stuttgart SI Centrum Maxx Filmpalast 2003.jpg
trier February 17, 2000 7th 1818
Wolfsburg November 9, 2000 7th 1636
Wuppertal December 11, 1997 9 2733 Cinemaxx in Freiburg's Bertoldstrasse 4.jpg
Wurzburg December 18, 1999 7th 1846 Cinemaxx and Ibis Hotel - panoramio.jpg

foreign countries

place country opening Halls Seats file
Aarhus Denmark October 10, 2003 11 2011
Copenhagen Denmark October 6, 2000 10 3200 Cinemaxx Copenhagen - Stormtroopers, TIE fighter pilot and Darth Vader.jpg
Odense Rosengård Bio Denmark Acquired in July 2000 7th 977

Special events

Cinemaxx next to the RheinRuhrZentrum

In addition to the premieres already mentioned - especially in Hamburg and Berlin - CinemaxX AG has other special events in its program. The Fantasy Film Festival takes place every year in the Cinemaxx cinemas in various cities . For example, the Hamburg Film Festival is held at Cinemaxx Hamburg . For a while, parts of the Hamburg Lesbian and Gay Film Festival also took place there. Further events were created through a cooperation with ProSieben . In many cinemas of the Cinemaxx Group, an extensive supporting program including a live broadcast of the award is offered every year for the Oscar award. The Cinemaxx at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, on the other hand, is the official festival cinema of the Berlinale , and the international Berlin International Community Church celebrates various services here every Sunday with several hundred visitors. The Cinemaxx Heilbronn housed the municipal cinema of the city of Heilbronn; due to chronically low audience numbers, this cooperation was terminated by the operator in summer 2012. In some cities, since the 2006 World Cup, games from the World Cup have been shown live and free of charge on the big screen. Some Cinemaxx cinemas also show current editions of the ARD crime series Tatort live, and some operas and other music and theater performances from major international theaters are broadcast live in Cinemaxx.

Cinegamez

After a massive decline in visitor numbers since the mid-1990s, the Cinemaxx Group is looking for new ways of addressing the public. In March 2006, a guest company called Cinegamez converted a cinema into a computer games room in the largest, less busy Cinemaxx in Essen . Despite public attention for the experiment and in part supra-regional reporting, the number of visitors remained low overall. There were also difficulties with the public order office, which rated the facility as an amusement arcade, which would have resulted in a ban on admission for young people and high entertainment taxes. Cinegamez was closed again in July 2006. In December 2006 the first luxury cinema in Germany was opened in the same hall. 292 cinema seats in rows were replaced by 104 individual leather seats with tables. A bar is served on the square. The facility is intended to attract a special audience with high demands with increased admission prices.

Web links

Commons : Cinemaxx  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Cinemaxx company facts
  2. ↑ CinemaxX Annual Report 2012 (PDF; 2.5 MB)
  3. ↑ a b British investor buys Cinemaxx. Spiegel Online, July 10, 2012, accessed July 10, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Flebbe no longer on the supervisory board , Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of January 22, 2009, page 14, business department
  5. ↑ CinemaxX AG: separation from board member Thilo Rieg - dgap.de. Retrieved November 15, 2018 .
  6. ↑ New board for new tasks: Supervisory board appoints Christoph Ahmadi to board | 07/04/12 | finanzen.ch . In: finanzen.ch . ( finanzen.ch [accessed on November 15, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Exit at the zenith: Cinemaxx loses Ahmadi | W&V . ( wuv.de [accessed November 15, 2018]).
  8. ↑ 40 years of TMG. Capital increase to Cinemaxx Group ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tmg.de
  9. ↑ Kloiber takes over majority in the cinema chain Cinemaxx dpa-AFX from August 12, 2009
  10. ↑ CinemaxX share: Squeeze-out application from Vue Beteiligungs AG , aktiencheck.de
  11. ↑ BaFin's judgment on the squeeze out  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / corporate.myvue.com
  12. ↑ IR notification about the name change ( memento from September 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Kinopolis is coming ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Darmstädter Echo, accessed on December 5, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.echo-online.de
  14. ↑ Light and shadow in Cinemaxx , WAZ, local section Essen, December 10, 2011
  15. ↑ Merger to form the largest multiplex group in Germany - Senator Film has a 25 percent share in Cinemaxx , tagesspiegel.de
  16. ↑ Setback for Flebbe , spiegel.de
  17. ↑ Kieft & Kieft buys the Ufa chain , spiegel.de
  18. ↑ "Popcorn and glasses, please." - Cinemaxx is planning the 3D offensive - BASIC thinking . In: BASIC thinking . August 25, 2009 ( basicthinking.de [accessed November 15, 2018]).
  19. ^ Off for the Cinemaxx Nikolaistraße , haz.de
  20. ↑ Essen cinema halls
  21. ^ Berlin International Community Church eV - Home. Retrieved November 15, 2018 (American English).
  22. ↑ Lan parties in cinema format , rp-online.de
  23. ↑ Luxury cinema offers under discussion , mediabiz.de