What is Plitt Theatres?
'''Plitt Theaters''' was a major [[movie theater]] chain in the [[United States]]. It was originally the theater division of [[Paramount Pictures]]. This included a number of theater circuits acquired by Paramount, notably [[Balaban and Katz]]. In the late 1930s the [[United States government]] filed an [[United States antitrust law|antitrust]] [[lawsuit]] against five [[Movie studio]]s.{{efn|Antitrust laws are called antimonopoly laws in other countries.<ref>Simon Vande Walle, ''Private Antitrust Litigation in the European Union and Japan'' (Antwerpen: Maklu, 2013), p. 28</ref> The theaters who were named in the lawsuit both made [[motion picture]]s and owned the theaters they were shown in. This was considered a [[monopoly]].<ref name=Gomery89/>}}<ref name=Gomery89>Douglas Gomery, ''Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States'' (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992), p. 89</ref> As a result Paramount was required to split off their theater chain.<ref name=Gomery89/> On December 31, 1949, the theater business was [[Spin-off|spun off]] into an [[independent]] company called United Paramount Theaters (UPT). It was headed by [[Leonard Goldenson]]. In 1953 UPT purchased the [[American Broadcasting Company]] (ABC). This provided ABC's television network with a source of [[cash flow]] that allowed it to survive and eventually become [[competition|competitive]]. The new company was named American Broadcasting-Paramount Theaters. In 1965 the corporation was renamed American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. The theater chain was renamed ABC Theaters. In 1974 ABC sold its movie theaters in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] (a division called ABC Great States) to one of its [[executive]]s, Henry Plitt, doing business as Plitt Theaters. Plitt subsequently bought the ABC Southern theater operations in 1978. In 1985, Plitt Theaters was sold to [[Cineplex Odeon Corporation]].<ref>David Balaban, ''The Chicago Movie Palaces of Balaban and Katz'' (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2006), p. 59</ref>