UZZO CINEMAS NEUTRALIZES CINÉPLEX ODÉON
2000-02-25
Terrebonne (Quebec), February 25, 2000 Judge Michel Côté of the Montreal District Superior Court granted an injunction to Guzzo Cinemas, to enable the company to screen the movie Grizzly Falls. The interim injunction ordered Séville Pictures to supply the movie Grizzly Falls to Guzzo Cinemas for showing, starting February 18, 2000. This injunction follows threats and interventions by Cinéplex Odéon against Séville Pictures. Cinéplex Odéon had threatened to withdraw the movie Grizzly Falls from 31 of its screens across Canada if Séville Pictures allowed Guzzo Cinemas to show the movie in French at Méga-Plex® Taschereau 18 and in English at Cinéma Des Sources 10. In its application to the Quebec Superior Court, Guzzo Cinemas submitted that by granting exclusive (monopoly) screening rights to Cinéplex Odéon for no lawful reason, the distributor was participating in unfair competition by Cinéplex Odéon against Guzzo Cinemas, and was abusing its power by refusing to supply Guzzo Cinemas with the film Grizzly Falls. "Yet again, we see Cinéplex Odéon trying to monopolize the screening of movies. I hope this step will show the Competition Bureau that it is now urgent to announce their decisions regarding this case, which has been ongoing since June 1998," stated Executive Vice-President of Guzzo Cinemas, Vincenzo Guzzo. He went on: "It is in the public interest to break this monopoly, so that moviegoers can spend their money wherever they want, and not where Cinéplex Odéon wants. " Guzzo Cinemas is the largest independent theatre owner in Quebec. The company operates 108 screens in ten movie complexes in Montreal and Greater Montreal (Saint-Laurent, Laval, Greenfield Park, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Saint-Léonard, Sainte-Thérèse, Terrebonne, Montreal and, coming soon, Longueuil). Source: Cinémas Guzzo Renseignements: Catherine Hamel Everest relations publiques Tel. : (514) 842-1433, ext 350
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