Dentist and former magician/cornetist Dr Arthur Russell began showing films at the new St George's Hall, Bourke Street, Melbourne, on 18 September 1909. He named his venture Hoyts Picture Palace, taking the name from a small US circus he had toured with and in which he also held shares. By the end of the war his company, by then known as Hoyts Pictures, operated a small circuit in Melbourne and Sydney that often included vaudeville acts as part of the programme (a common practice during the early 1900s).
In 1926, Hoyts and two other companies, Electric Theatres Pty. Ltd. and Associated Theatres Pty. Ltd., merged to become Hoyts Theatres Limited. Over the next few years joint managing directors Frank Thring and George Griffiths expanded the circuit to almost 100 cinemas Australia-wide. The company's policy of vaudeville and pictures continued at many of its cinemas well into the 1930s, thereby increasing the employment opportunities for local variety entertainers during a difficult economic period. Among the thousands of artists engaged by Hoyts during the early 1900s were Roy Rene, George Wallace, Nellie Kolle, Stella Lamond, Charles Zoli and Cusko's Circus.
In 1930, the Fox Film Corporation (now Twentieth Century Fox) secured a major shareholding in the company, continuing this association up until 1982, at which time it sold the company to the a consortium of Melbourne businessmen. Three years later Hoyts was acquired by the Fink family. Under their control the company expanded into New Zealand, the United States, South America and Europe, while also building up other business opportunities such as film distribution, home entertainment, and cinema operations. A major restructure in 1987 saw the company separated into three divisions. While Hoyts Media and Hoyts Entertainment were subsequenty listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, the company that owned the cinemas, Hoyts Cinemas was not floated until 1996.
The years 1987 to 1996 saw Hoyts undergo further expansion, leading to it being recognised in 1994 as the 10th biggest cinema chain in the world. In 1996, Hoyts Cinemas was floated and in 1999 Kerry Packer's family company, Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH), bought the chain for AUD $620 million. CPH and Village Roadshow joined forces to bail out Val Morgan Cinema Advertising in 2004, and the following year purchased the entire company. Around the time of Kerry Packer's death in December 2005, his company sold the Hoyts Group to Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) and West Australian Newspapers. Both owners then sold their 50 percent stake in Hoyts to Sydney-based private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners in 2007.
In 2010 Australia's Hoyts Corporation expanded its New Zealand cinema operations with the purchase of Barrie Everard's Berkeley Cinema Group.
[Sources: Screen News; Australian Variety Theatre Archive; Wikipedia]
