Warner Village Cinemas
Warner Village Cinemas UK was a chain of multiplex cinemas operated by Warner Bros. in the United Kingdom. Created in November 1996, it was a joint venture between Warner Bros. International Theatres and Village Roadshow Australia. The expansion to building more sites of Warner Village Cinemas around the UK starting from 1997 to November 2002 with 40 sites open. In the UK the chain with 36 cinemas including the flagship in Leicester Square with 354 screens was subsequently purchased by SBC International Cinemas in May 2003, which re-branded all cinemas as Vue starting late March 2004 this included the refurbishment of the cinema foyers, the lighting and replacing screen numbers in limited cinemas. In October 2009 the Italian branch of Warner Village Cinemas was bought by the Benetton Group and merged with Mediaset's Medusa Cinema to create The Space Cinema. It was originally a joint venture between Warner Bros. International Theatres, Village Roadshow Australia and Focus Srl., the local Italian partner.
The most notable Warner Village Cinema was in Leicester Square, London, and was a multiplex used only to host Warner film premieres. This theatre features two bas-relief sculptures, Sight and Sound, sculpted by Edward Bainbridge Copnall.
The United Kingdom chain was bought by SBC, which became Vue Cinemas as part of the purchase.
The cinema chain also operated in Taiwan opening a cinema which contains a shopping mall named Warner Village Centre in Taipei. In 2005 it was renamed as Vieshow Cinemas.
At one time, Warner Village Cinemas was the sponsor of LWT's weather forecasts, as well as being advertised on some select Warner Home Videos. On the 2002 video game The Getaway, Warner Village Cinemas were promoted through a taxi advertisement.