United Cinemas International

The logo of the UCI Kinowelt

United Cinemas International ( UCI or UCI Kinowelt ) is a cinema company that belongs to the Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group. This has been owned by the American cinema chain AMC , which is a subsidiary of the Chinese Wanda Group , since November 2016 . The German headquarters are in Bochum .

history

UCI essentially emerged from the sale of the European cinema activities of the American cinema chain AMC (CEO Stanley Durwood) to Paramount Pictures and MCA / Universal Studios . AMC - then American Multi Cinema - (not to be confused with the AMC mentioned above, see main article) was a cinema chain founded by Stanley Durwood in the USA, which built the first multiplex cinemas. At the time of his death in 1999, Durwood was operating the fourth largest cinema chain in the world. He built the UK's first multiplex with AMC in Milton Keynes in 1985 as a first step in his European expansion.

At this time, Wolfgang Braun, co-owner and managing director of MBS Kino GmbH, at that time a small cinema company that operated two cinemas with three screens in Bochum, and Thomas Menne developed the idea of building the first multiplex cinema chain in Germany and Austria. The idea arose in the offices of MBS Kino GmbH in Bochum's main train station. Braun and Menne looked for the capital for the planned expansion in German-speaking countries by letter to the largest American cinema chains at the time, and after years of negotiation they found the desired partner in AMC and Stanley Durwood. Due to financial difficulties in the USA, Durwood, whose multiplex cinema chain had meanwhile captured significant market shares in Great Britain, decided to sell its European cinema activities to the subsidiary United Cinemas International, a joint venture of the film studios Paramount and MCA / Universal at the time. As part of this sale, Wolfgang Braun became General Manager and Managing Director of United Cinemas International Multiplex GmbH, Thomas Menne acted as Director Operations & Film. UCI was able to open the first multiplex cinema in Germany in October 1990 in Hürth , shortly afterwards the opening of further locations, including the flagship at that time in Bochum with 18 halls, at the time the largest multiplex cinema in Germany. Further locations were developed under the leadership of Braun / Menne, including in Austria. Wolfgang Braun left UCI to set up the German subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios - Buena Vista International Germany GmbH - and Thomas Menne was appointed managing director of the cinema division at Neue Constantin Film in Munich, a joint venture between Dr. Leo Kirch and Bernd Eichinger as well as some small co-shareholders. In addition to a film production company and a film distribution company, it initially operated a joint venture company with Warner Bros. Film GmbH with the aim of building a nationwide, German multiplex cinema chain that is in direct competition with the Cinemaxx Group, the UCI and later Cinestar should. The flagship here was the CINEDOM in Cologne.

Since 2004, the European UCI companies have belonged to the investment company Terra Firma Capital Partners . As a result of restructuring, the UCI cinemas were incorporated into the ODEON cinema chain, which was also acquired by Terra at the beginning of 2006.

In autumn 2008, UCI took over four cinemas from the Kinoplex chain. These are the cinemas in Flensburg, Wilhelmshaven, Paderborn and Bad Oeynhausen.

On January 30, 2019, Constantin Film-Holding GmbH announced the purchase of all three UCI cinemas in Austria.

The enterprise

UCI pursued a different location concept to Cinemaxx , the former Ufa cinemas and Cinestar . While the latter relied more on the classic, central inner city location, UCI preferred to locate its new buildings in peripheral locations that are well connected for car traffic and, if possible, also in densely populated areas with sufficient and free parking. In the meantime, many cinema complexes have been renovated, improved and equipped with the latest technology.

Overall, the Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group operates in thirteen countries with over 360 cinemas and over 2900 screens. In Germany, UCI has 215 screens and 46,225 seats at 24 locations.

Locations in Germany

city	designation	particularities	Halls	Seats
Bad Oeynhausen	Bad Oeynhausen		9	2197
Berlin	Berlin on Eastgate		8th	1662
	Berlin Colosseum		10	2587
	Berlin Gropius Passages	Luxe	6th	835
	Berlin Mercedes-Platz	Luxe, IMAX	14th	1623
Bochum	Bochum Ruhrpark	IMAX	14th	3265
cottbus	Cottbus - Am Lausitz Park		9	2202
Dessau-Rosslau	Dessau		7th	1367
Dresden	Dresden Elbe Park		9	2481
Dusseldorf	Dusseldorf	IMAX with laser	9	2573
Duisburg	Duisburg		8th	1995
Flensburg	Flensburg		8th	1989
Gera	Gera		8th	1742
Hamburg	Hamburg Mundsburg		8th	1818
	Hamburg-Othmarschen -Park	IMAX	9	2466
	Hamburg- Wandsbek (Smart City)	IMAX	9	2302
Huerth	Cologne Huerth Park		14th	2274
Kaiserslautern	Kaiserslautern		8th	1996
Leipzig	Leuna , Nova Shopping Center		10	1876
Neuss	Neuss		7th	1894
Nordhorn	Nordhorn	Luxe	6th	506
Paderborn	Paderborn		8th	1818
Potsdam	Potsdam	Luxe	8th	1072
Wilhelmshaven	Wilhelmshaven		9	1685

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Marc Mensch: Constantin Film-Holding takes over Austrian UCI companies. In: blickpunktfilm.de. January 30, 2018, accessed March 18, 2019 .

[1] Marc Mensch: Constantin Film-Holding takes over Austrian UCI companies. In: blickpunktfilm.de. January 30, 2018, accessed March 18, 2019 .