Kitag
The Kitag Cinema Theater AG , shortly KITAG CINEMAS , is Switzerland's largest cinema operator. It forms a cinema group with its cinemas in Zurich (5), Bern (4), Basel (3), Winterthur (1), Biel / Bienne (1), St. Gallen (2) and Lucerne (3). Kitag belongs to CT Cinetrade AG , a 75% stake in the Swiss telecom company Swisscom . In addition to KITAG CINEMAS, CT Cinetrade AG also owns the Teleclub pay TV platform and the PlazaVista video label . Philippe Täschler is the director.
history
Kitag emerged from the sale of Kino-Theater AG, a subsidiary of Jean Frey AG (Report House AG). This owned the Zurich cinemas Bellevue, Corso, Frosch, Ritz and Wellenberg until 1992. In 1992 Max Frey sold his cinema empire to CT Cinetrade AG. The Munich film mogul Kirch was also involved in the share capital.
On January 1, 2006, Kitag took over the Capitol cinema and the Cinemax multiplex cinema in Zurich from Erwin C. Dietrich . Thus, until March 22, 2007 (opening of the arena cinemas in Sihlcity ), Kitag will operate all cinemas in the city of Zurich in which Hollywood films are shown.
At the same time, Kitag had to give up the Bellevue cinema. This was built in 1858 in the Bellevue House by architect Leonhard Zeugherr, which was expanded into a Belle-Epoque building 30 years later and housed the “Grand-Hotel Bellevue” until the end of the First World War . When this ceased operations, the building was rebuilt and the facade simplified, whereby the original arcades were bricked up and behind them the cinema theater was opened in 1921. Later renovations led to the subdivision into several smaller cinemas, whereby the cinema established itself under the name "Bellevue's Dream Theater" as a traditional "children's cinema" in which children's films were shown. Since UBS, as the owner of the Bellevue-Haus, wanted to restore the arcades and parts of the old facade as part of the renovation, there was no more space for a cinema, which meant that it was closed at the end of 2005 after more than 80 years of operation.
Overall declining visitor numbers and disagreements with the owners of the Wellenberg House in Niederdorf led to the closure of the Kino Academy in December 2006. Under the name Kino Wellenberg, it was the first in Zurich to be equipped with a THX -certified hall. In November 2007, the “Vertigo” club was opened in the former room 1, which was originally supposed to have kept its screen.
On January 1, 2007, Kitag took over the cinema operations from Franz Anton Brüni, which include eleven cinemas in St. Gallen and a multiplex cinema with eight halls in neighboring Abtwil SG .
On January 1, 2008, the Lucerne cinema operations were taken over by Georg Egger (20 cinemas). In the course of the takeover, “MaxX Emmen AG” was renamed “KITAG Kino-Theater Luzern AG”, the headquarters relocated to Lucerne and merged with “L-Kinos-AG” in mid-2008. Some cinemas were closed for economic reasons.
The Kino Plaza, which opened in 1923, suffered a similar fate as the Kino Academy. The cinema, which was originally built with one hall, received two more halls as part of later renovations, which had arisen from the original balcony of the main hall. When the Kitag Group invested heavily in renovating their cinemas in the 1990s, the owner of the still independent Kino Plaza also tried to counteract the dusty image. During the complete renovation carried out in 2001, the costs were underestimated and the cinema had to be sold to Kitag in Zurich that same year. After an application for a change of use appeared in the official gazette at the beginning of 2010 and the first specific rumors of closure arose, the closure decision was confirmed at short notice in September 2010. In November 2010 the “Club Plaza” was opened in the former cinema halls. In September 2010 kitag opened a new cinema in Winterthur.
On October 29, 2015, Kitag opened a state-of-the-art multiplex cinema with five halls in Biel's Tissot Arena. Room 1 with 255 seats is the first room in the Kitag that is equipped with the Dolby Atmos sound system.
On April 5th, the 2nd largest Kitag cinema opened. It is the Cinedome in Muri bei Bern. The new cinema has space for 1,436 people (including 37 wheelchair spaces). The Cinedome is therefore the largest cinema in the Bern region after the Pathé Westside (11 halls & 2432 seats) and, thanks to the new IMAX screen in room 1, offers the largest screen in the Bern region.
In the summer of 2018, Kitag announced that the Rex cinema in St. Gallen had been sold and that the new owner was planning a residential and commercial building. As a result, the three cinemas were closed.
Cinemas
Kitag operates the following cinemas in seven cities in German-speaking Switzerland :
Zurich
- active cinemas
- Abaton (formerly Cinemax, 12 halls)
- Capitol (6 halls)
- Corso (4 rooms)
- Frosch Studio (2 halls)
- Metropol (formerly Ritz, previously Roxy, 2 halls)
- former cinemas
- abc (4 rooms; March 2014)
- academy (formerly Wellenberg, 2 halls; closed December 2006)
- bellevue (4 halls; closed January 2006)
- plaza (formerly Kosmos, 3 halls; closed September 2010)
Bern
Active cinemas
- Cinedome (Muri near Bern), 10 halls
- Splendid, 2 halls
Former cinemas (* partly continued by other operators)
- Capitol (2 halls; closed in 2018)
- Alhambra (1 room; closed January 2018 *)
- City (3 halls; closed January 2018)
- Rex (1 room; closed February 2015 *)
- Royal (1 room; December 2016)
- Gotthard, 1 hall (closed in 2018)
- Jura, 3 halls (closed in 2018)
Biel
- Cinedome (5 halls)
Basel
- Capitol (2 halls)
- Rex (2 halls)
- Studio central (1 room)
St. Gallen
Active cinemas
- Cinedome (10 halls, including 1 4DX), in Abtwil
- Scala (6 halls)
- former cinema
- Corso (1 room; closed May 2012)
- Stork
- Rex Studio (3 halls; closed summer 2018)
Lucerne
Active cinemas
- Capitol (6 halls)
- Maxx (8 halls), in Emmenbrücke (expansion to 12 columns planned)
- Modern (1 room), founded by Emil Steinberger
Former cinemas
- abc (until around 2005), then club abc and opera , today Club princesse
- Limelight (until approx. 2009), formerly erotic cinema
- Piccolo (until around 2008), formerly an erotic cinema, then a shop
- Rex (until approx. 2002), today part of the Lucerne city administration
Winterthur
- Maxx (6 rooms)
Special
Kitag organized the annual cinema in the HB event in Zurich's main train station , which had been suspended since Credit Suisse was no longer the main sponsor, and was the publisher of the cinema magazine close-up! .
In 1998 Kitag had the exclusive rights to Titanic in the city of Zurich and showed the film in several halls at the same time.
Kitag.com was relaunched in November 2014. With the website, cinema tickets can be booked with a smartphone, tablet or computer. Mobile tickets also enable direct entry into the cinema, now also with Passbook. In addition to booking tickets via Carte Bleue, credit card or Postfinance Card, tickets can also be conveniently paid for using Swisscom Natel® Pay via the mobile phone bill. With an account on the website, Carte Bleue users always have their cinema tickets digitally with them and now pay for their consumptions with their smartphone at the cinema kiosk, with a 10% discount. Thanks to the possibility of following popular stars and films, film fans are constantly informed about news, updates and cinema releases. News on upcoming films, star information, the latest trailers, exclusive kitag advance news, competitions as well as Twitter and Instagram posts from the most popular stars and starlets round off the information package.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ NZZ Online: A Piece of the Belle Epoque on Bellevue , August 26, 2009
- ↑ Tages-Anzeiger: The Grandhotel Bellevue was once considered an insider tip , August 13, 2010
- ↑ Press portal: The KITAG cinema group buys the cinema operations from Georg Egger in Lucerne ( Memento of the original from July 5, 2009 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.
- ↑ 20 minutes online: The Kino Plaza is to become a party venue , January 13, 2010
- ↑ 20 minutes online: Kino Plaza closes , September 6, 2010
