First benefit of the opening of Cinémas Des Sources 10 The arrival of CINÉMAS GUZZO on montreal's west island forces a competitor to lower its wednesday ticket prices

1998-07-15

Montréal, le 15 Juillet 1998 A first positive result of the arrival of Cinémas Guzzo on Montreal's West Island is lower ticket prices on Wednesdays at Famous Players theatres. Not a week after the opening of Cinémas Guzzo's Complexe Des Sources 10, in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, ths Famous Players chain has decided to offer West Island residents the cheaper tickets it had until now reserved for its customers in the competitivemarkets of Laval, Versailles, Angrignon and Greenfield Park. « This is the first positive direct result -for consumers- of the free-market competition we have been demanding,» said Vincenzo Guzzo, executive vice-president of Cinémas Guzzo. Without the recent opening of the Dollard-des-Ormeaux complex, West Island moviegoers would still be paying $8.50 instead of $5.00, on Wednesdays. In 1991, Cinémas Guzzo was the first to offer lower ticket prices on Wednesdays, and competitors had to adjust their prices accordingly. Cinémas Guzzo, which has condemned the Famous Players and Odeon monopoly and is demanding access to popular American films, feels that the current situation penalizes consumers, who cannot see the films they want to see in the theatre of their choice. In a bid to end to this situation, Cinémas Guzzo filed two complaints with Industry Canada's Competition Bureau on June 26. Cinémas Guzzo has its head office in Terrebonne, in the Montreal area and employs 150 people. It is Quebec's largest independent movie theatre operator, with sales of $15 million in 1997. With two other Méga-Plex openings in the near future and a proposed complex for Marché central, Cinémas Guzzo will have nine complexes with 94 theatres and 21,200 seats.

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