Ufa cinemas

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The Ufa cinemas were cinemas in 1917 founded Universum Film AG , the Ufa-Theater AG were operated by its sale of the 1956.

Photography of the Ufa-Lichtspiele by Hans Schliepmann , Berlin 1924

history

On December 18, 1917, Universum Film AG (Ufa) was founded by a consortium headed by the board member of Deutsche Bank , Emil Georg von Stauß , whose movie theaters were called Ufa cinemas.

In addition to its film production facilities, Ufa has had a growing number of premiere theaters since the Weimar Republic , including important ones such as the Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin , where many world premieres took place, and the Ufa-Palast in Hamburg , which opened at the Was the largest cinema in Europe in 1929. In 1936 there were 109 cinemas, two years later 5446 cinemas and by 1942 the number rose to 7042 movie theaters through areas occupied by Germany.

In April 1956, the Ufa cinemas were acquired by a banking consortium led by Deutsche Bank and merged into a Ufa-Theater AG. The chairman of the board was Arno Hauke , the previous general trustee for the UFI assets in the British occupation zone . In January 1964 the cinema chain became the property of Bertelsmann , in 1972 the cinema entrepreneur Heinz Riech followed as owner . The concept of box cinemas is closely connected with smell - and thus with Ufa cinemas . The formerly large halls of the post-war period were mostly divided into several small rooms, some of which only offered 20 to 30 seats.

After German reunification , Riech and his Düsseldorf company took over part of the cinemas in the former GDR . The Treuhandanstalt did not allow the takeover of individual cinemas, but instead obliged Ufa to take over a whole group of cinemas, some of which were in very poor condition in less attractive locations and therefore unprofitable. In addition, Riech had to give a two-year guarantee for these newly acquired cinemas.

The first cinema that Ufa took over in the new federal states was the Metropol in Chemnitz , followed by the Capitol and Tivoli in Plauen . This was followed by the takeover of the film theaters in Gera , Weimar , Halle (Saale) , Magdeburg , Hoyerswerda , Frankfurt (Oder) and other places. Significant cinemas among them are the Rundkino (“Filmtheater Prager Straße ”) in Dresden , the Kosmos and the Soyuz in East Berlin .

Many of these locations had to be given up after the period of the guarantee of existence due to unprofitability. In other cities, extensive renovations or new buildings were planned at the old locations, but these failed because the cities awarded the contract to build a multiplex cinema to competitors. In 1998, for example, Ufa withdrew from its Gera and Chemnitz locations. Ultimately, the theater park taken over from the Treuhand proved to be an obstacle. The boom in large multiplex cinemas that began at the beginning of the 1990s was particularly noticeable in the new federal states, as there was great demand for modern cinemas there. While competitors were able to negotiate relatively flexibly with the cities, including about new buildings, Ufa was tied to its land and real estate and could act less flexibly, as monument protection had to be observed when renovating or building new buildings . In addition, taking over the cinemas from the Treuhand was expensive, and Ufa did not have the money to expand during the multiplex boom.

In October 2002 the company went bankrupt . Within a few years the competitors Cinemaxx , UCI and Cinestar had built up modern cinema complexes and enormous excess capacities. The Ufa group was slow to follow suit and operated largely outdated cinemas that attracted fewer and fewer visitors. After a short collaboration with the Cinemaxx Group, the Ufa cinemas were completely taken over by the Lübeck competitor Cinestar. The name Ufa could continue to be used under license until 2004, after which the cinemas taken over were given the name Cinestar .

The UFA-Palast on Hamburg's Gänsemarkt shortly before its demolition in 2006

Cinestar got into trouble itself due to the takeover, combined with the general decline in visitors. According to the purchase agreement, some less promising properties were then returned to the insolvent Ufa chain, including those in Hamburg and Dresden. Since the insolvency administrator's point of view was that it was not feasible to continue operating as a cinema due to the market situation, the properties were for sale if operations continued. Some of the buildings, which are mostly in a favorable inner-city location, were gutted or - like the almost 100-year-old location on Hamburg's Gänsemarkt - completely demolished to make way for offices and shops. But there are still Ufa palaces in Dresden and Düsseldorf.

Major cinemas

Berlin

In 1912/1913 the Ufa marble house opened on Kurfürstendamm, near Breitscheidplatz . The last demonstration took place in 2001 and a large fashion chain moved in. The Ufa Filmbühne Wien opened in 1913 on Kurfürstendamm as the Union Palace with 850 seats. In 2000 the cinema was closed.

The Ufa-Palast am Zoo was opened in 1919 with a capacity of 1740 seats and six years later it was expanded to 2165 seats. It was one of the most important world premieres of the 1920s and 1930s. Before the opening of the Ufa-Palast in Hamburg with 2200 seats, it was the largest cinema in Germany.

The Gloria-Palast on Kurfürstendamm opened on January 26, 1926 with 1200 seats. After a new building in 1948, the Gloriette was added. In 1998 the cinema was closed.

The Kosmos Ufa-Palast on Karl-Marx-Allee was reopened on December 18, 1996 after the renovation. The cinema built by VEB Hochbau Friedrichshain in 1960–1962 became the first multiplex cinema in Berlin and was equipped with 3400 seats. In 2006 the cinema was closed by the UFA and has served as an event center ever since.

Dresden

The Ufa Crystal Palace in Dresden

The Ufa Crystal Palace between Prager and St. Petersburger Strasse opened on March 26, 1998 with 2668 seats next to the Rundkino Dresden taken over by Ufa . The joint operation of the two venues (Rundkino: Hall 1–7, Kristallpalast: Hall 8–15) ended in 2003.

Dusseldorf

The Ufa-Palast Düsseldorf on Worringer Strasse is the city's first multiplex cinema. It consists of 13 halls with a total of 2988 seats.

Hamburg

The Ufa-Palast on Gänsemarkt , inside the Deutschlandhaus , was opened on December 21, 1929. At that time it was the largest cinema in Europe with 2665 seats. The Ufa Palace was used until 1944, when a fire triggered by an aerial bomb hit severely damaged the hall and the stage.

The older Ufa-Kino Lessing-Theater, also on Gänsemarkt, was used as a British military cinema after the war and reopened in 1958 as the Ufa-Palast. It was replaced in 1997 by a new multiplex cinema in the same place, which was torn down again in 2006 to make room for offices and shops. Only a few hundred meters in the direction of the Inner Alster, Ufa took over the Streit's Filmtheater in 1980 and the Studio Kino in 1989 and ran them as Ufa Arthouse cinemas with more sophisticated film programs. From 1978 to 1998 the Savoy Film Theater was part of the Ufa group.

The Grindel-Ufa-Palast am Grindel opened in 1959 as a premiere cinema. In 1994 it became Hamburg's first multiplex cinema . The last performance ended on March 26, 2008. The demolition of the cinema - with the exception of the foyer - took place from February to April 2009 to make space for condominiums.

Cologne

Filmpalast in Cologne

Erected in 1931 by Wilhelm Riphahn in just five months , the Ufa Palace in Cologne was one of the most spectacular structures of that time. With a seating capacity of 3,000, it was the largest cinema in West Germany for a long time. The Heinz Rühmann film “ Der Hauptmann von Köpenick ” was premiered on August 16, 1956, and the Hans Albers film “ Der Greifer ” was premiered on March 20, 1958 . The modernized cinema building was taken over by the Cinestar Group in 2002 under the name “Filmpalast” and had 13 cinema halls with 2226 seats. After the Cinestar Group was unable to agree on a future plan for the cinema in negotiations with the property owners (it was about investing in modernizing the cinema against a rent reduction), the last screening was on Sunday, March 28, 2010. The late screenings did not take place anymore.

In the summer of 2014, the investor Johannes Füngeling from the region acquired the complex, which extensively renovated the building. Under the operator Helmut Brunotte, who already owns several cinemas of the German Cineplex network in the area , the cinema wanted to reopen in autumn 2015 with a total of 1,400 seats in eight halls. On December 15, 2016, the Cologne Film Palace reopened - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was shown .

Munich

The Luitpold Theater opened in 1929 and closed in 1974.

Stuttgart

The Ufa Palace in Stuttgart

With over 4200 seats, the Ufa-Palast Stuttgart on Rosensteinstrasse was one of the largest multiplex cinemas in Germany. It has 13 cinema halls. On May 29, 2020, the operators announced that the cinema complex would no longer open due to the Covid 19 pandemic and the associated economic consequences.

Vienna

The Ufa cinema opened in 1938. It was previously called "Zentral".

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ 76 cinemas were taken over by Ufa-Theater AG in 1991/1992: Soyuz and Kosmos in Berlin , Capitol Bad Liebenwerda , Kammerlichtspiele, Südlichtspiele and Weltspiegel in Cottbus , Lichtspiele Elsterwerda , Theater der Jugend Frankfurt / Oder , Filmtheater Friedensbound in Guben , Elsterstrand- Lichtspiele Herzberg / Elster , Glück auf Lichtspiele Lauchhammer , Regina-Lichtspiele Lauta , Spreewald-Lichtspiele Lübben , Passage Senftenberg , Filmbühne Wittichenau , Filmpalast Aschersleben , Kurtheater Blankenburg / Harz , Theater des Friedens Burg , Palast-Theater and Zentral-Theater Dessau , Capitol Eisleben , Theater des Friedens Gardelegen , Union-Theater Genthin , Union-Theater Halberstadt , Roland-Lichtspiele Haldensleben , Prisma-Filmtheater Halle-Neustadt , Goethe-Lichtspiele Halle / Saale , Volkslichtspiele Havelberg , Theater des Friedens Klötze , Erich-Franz-Lichtspiele Köthen , Oli-Lichtspiele, Palast Theater, La Scala, Theater of Friendship, Studio-Kino Moritzplatz, Theater des Fried ens and Theater of the North in Magdeburg , Merseburg Film Theater, Naumburg Film Theater of Friendship , DEHA-Lichtspiele Oschersleben , Cinema-Lichtspiele Osterburg , Theater der Freude Querfurt , Theater der Freund Salzwedel , Zentral-Theater Sangerhausen , Apollo-Lichtspiele and Astoria-Lichtspiele in Schönebeck , Theater des Friedens Stassfurt , Capitol-Theater am Kornmarkt Stendal , Empor-Lichtspiele Tangermünde , Union-Filmtheater Weißenfels , Capitol-Lichtspiele and Volkslichtspiele Wernigerode , Central-Theater Wittenberg , Capitol-Theater Zeitz , Theater der Freund Zerbst , Rundkino Dresden , Filmtheater Großschönau , Filmsck Hoyerswerda , Filmtheater Löbau , Centraltheater Schirgiswalde , Kristall-Lichtspiele Weißwasser , Merkur Arnstadt , Filmtheater Bad Klosterlausnitz , Filmtheater Titania Eisenach , Karl-Marx-Lichtspiele Eisenberg , Panorama Palasttheater and Union-Theater Erfurt , Metropol and Palast-Theater Gera , UT Greiz , Filmbühne Sömmerda , Oste rburg-Theater Weida , Theater des Friedens Weimar , Welt-Echo, Europa 70 and Metropol in Chemnitz . - see. Cinema movie theater address book. With the official data from the documents of the Association of Film Distributors as of January 31, 1992, Cultura-Verlag, Munich 1992.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German Historical Museum (accessed February 14, 2010)
  2. ^ Francis Courtade, Pierre Cadars: History of the film in the Third Reich . C. Hanser, 1975, ISBN 978-3-446-12064-8 , pp. 32 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ^ Klaus Kreimeier: The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company, 1918–1945 . University of California Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-520-22069-0 , pp. 319 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ↑ CineStar renounces the name Ufa - Blickpunkt: Film In: mediabiz.de , December 22, 2004, accessed on September 25, 2018.
  5. ↑ Ufa-Palast at www.zlb.de
  6. ↑ L'Estrange Fawcett: The World of Film. Amalthea-Verlag, Zurich, Leipzig, Vienna 1928, p. 122 (translated by C. Zell, supplemented by S. Walter Fischer)
  7. ↑ Der Kosmos UFA-Palast Berlin ( Memento from January 16, 2002 in the web archive archive.today )
  8. ↑ UFA: Seating plans In: ufa-duesseldorf.de , accessed on June 14, 2018.
  9. ↑ Volker Reissmann: Last curtain on Jungfernstieg - the Streit's cinema was closed after 57 years . In: Film- und Fernsehmuseum Hamburg eV (Ed.): Hamburger Flimmern . No. 20 , 2013, p. 11–15 ( PDF [accessed March 22, 2020]).
  10. ↑ Gerhard Witte: Hamburg's cinema jewel, the Savoy, has been reopened. In: www.in70mm.com. December 21, 2018, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  11. ↑ The old Ufa-Palast on Kölner Ring becomes the Cineplex-Kino Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger
  12. ↑ Simon Lorenz: Hohenzollernring: Ufa-Filmpalast in Cologne lives again . In: Kölnische Rundschau . ( rundschau-online.de [accessed December 19, 2016]).
  13. ↑ The last curtain has fallen, press release from the operator, May 29, 2020
  14. ↑ When the Ufa Palace was in its prime