| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Irving, Texas |
| Number of locations | 9 |
| Website | www.medievaltimes.com |
Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament is a family dinner theater featuring staged medieval-style games, sword-fighting, and jousting performed by a cast of 75 actors and 20 horses. Each location is housed in a replica 11th-century castle,[1] with the exception of the Toronto location, which is housed inside a Beaux-Arts structure built in 1912. The setting is in medieval Spain, in which the king of Castile hosts a tournament. Meanwhile, he sends his son to make peace with the Kingdom of Leon. The chain is located in Buena Park, California; Dallas, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Lyndhurst, New Jersey; Hanover, Maryland; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; Kissimmee, Florida and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Medieval Times Entertainment, the holding company for the nine theaters, is headquartered in Irving, Texas.[2] The chain was featured in Ben Stiller's 1996 film The Cable Guy,[3] as well as episodes of Cake Boss[4], Hell's Kitchen,[5] and Zach Braff's Garden State.
In April 1997 Medieval Times owners sought bankruptcy protection after losing a court battle to the Internal Revenue Service that required the Buena Park location to pay $7.5 million dollars and the Kissimmee location to pay $2.5 million in back taxes. According to the IRS, Medieval Times improperly deducted royalties, loan interest and management fees in the 1987 and 1989 tax years. When asked why the company was filing for bankruptcy the company’s bankruptcy lawyer, Alan Friedman, said, "one of the primary reasons for filing was to prevent the IRS from beginning to seize any assets." [6]