Movieland Theaters / The Movie Lodge (Canada)

Background: In 1976, Boyd'sMovie-Landwas founded through a partnership with Famous Players Theatres and Boyd's St. Lawrence Amusement Co, Ltd. to bring multiplexes to several communities in St. Lawrence Island in Nova Scotia. Following Canadian Odeon's departure from Atlantic Canada in the early 1980s, Boyd's Movie-Land was ranamed Movieland Theatres and became an indepent operation. By the late 1980s, they acquired select Famous Players locations in Atlantic Canada including most of their locations in St. Lawrence Island.

In March 1997, they opened the Movieland 8 at Cabot's Trail in North St. Andrews, the first theatre in Atlantic Canada to offer stadium-style seating and an expanded concession menu.

Movieland was short-lived in the province of Ontario from 1998 to 2004. They only operated three locations in Kimberly, Winter Park, and Port Superior. Two theaters were built and opened by Movieland, but one was formerly a Cineplex Odeon theatre. All but one of their theatres are now operated by Cineplex as Galaxy Cinemas Kimberly and Cineplex Odeon Port Superior. The Movieland 7 in Winter Park was sold to Galaxy Cinemas in 2004 then Empire Theatres in 2006 and closed by Landmark Cinemas in September 2014. In December 2014, Movieland returned to Ontario with a new 10-screen "The Movie Lodge" theater in Winter Park, the first theater built in Canada with luxury recliners in all auditoriums.

In 2009, Movieland bought their first theater in Western Canada, The Imperial 6 in Rockford, AB. (built by Famous Players in 1985, previously operated by Landmark Cinemas from 1987-1990 and Town & Country from 1990-2009) It was closed and replaced by a 13-screen The Movie Lodge in 2012.

In 2011, Movieland purchased the small Town & Country Entertainment circuit which operated theaters in Beavertown, Dresdenberg, Fairmount (2 locations), and Spring Lake (Indoor and Drive-In). They plan to renovate these locations with the latest in comfort and digital projection and sound technology.

In December 2012, just in time for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Movieland opened The Movie Lodge in the historic mountain town of Rockford, AB. It was the first multiplex of its kind in Canada with tables in front of each row of large rocker seats, a VIP balcony with luxury recliners in four large auditoriums, a licensed lounge and restaurant in the upstairs lobby, and the first IMAX large format screen in the Canadian Rockies. In 2013, two more Movie Lodge locations were opened in the resort towns of Fairmount, BC and Dresdenburg, BC. A fifth Movie Lodge at Gateway Mills in Spring Lake, AB, the second with luxury recliners in all auditoriums, opened in May 2017.

1st known ID

(1986/1987-1992)

Nickname: "Let's Go to the Movies!" "It's that Song from that Movie Annie!"

ID: The tag starts with a still image of a ticket stub in a black-blue gradient background with the text "GIVE THE GIFT OF ENTERTAINMENT!" inside with "Movieland Gift Certificates" above and "Now Available at the Box Office" below. You can see the "filmstrip M" logo on each corner of the stub. Then, we cut to a black background, where see two blue lasers draw the Movieland "filmstrip M" logo. After a second, the M logo turns into a metallic blue structure and zooms out to the top of the screen. The company's name "MOVIELAND THEATRES" in blue flies in a la the Superman (1978) opening title sequence. The text "Our Feature Presentation" in magenta-red and in a 70s style script font writes below the Movieland Theatres logo as stars appear and gold fireworks fly in the background. After a while, the Dolby Stereo logo and a text "IN SELECT THEATRES" appears on the bottom left corner of the screen while another text "THIS THEATRE SERVES" and the Pepsi logo from the 1970s on the bottom right. The "filmstrip M" logo shines and stars twinkle on the text.

Trivia: This ID was made with the "Scanimation" process that was popular for logos, bumpers, and station IDs in the 1970s - 1980s. It was made at Pike Productions in Newport, Rhode Island.

FX/SFX: None for the "gift certificate screen", but typical early to mid-1980s computer animation.

Music/Sounds: A piece of the instrumental break from the song "Let's Go to the Movies" from the 1982 musical family film Annie (1982) from after the choir sings "Welcome to our lovely M-O-V-I-E!" which later cuts to a sample of the song's ending from the soundtrack where they sing "Welcome to the Movies! Wait and see." Apparently, Columbia Pictures actually liked and approved the use of their music. Laser zaps and explosion sounds are heard as well.

Availability: Extinct, but it can be found on "Do You Believe in Magic?" a recorded episode of the program A St. Lawrence Island Media Collage created by Mayan Communications in the early 1990s and broadcast on SLTV (Port St. Andrews' CTV/Global affiliate) as recently as 2016. It was also shown during Family Classics presentations at Tivoli Cinemas in Brooks Bay, Royal Cinemas in Trinity, and Movieland 8 at Cabot's Trail, all located in Nova Scotia.

Scare Factor: Low.