SilverCity Thunder Bay

SilverCity Thunder Bay Cinemas is a movie theatre that opened in about May 1999 in Thunder Bay. It has 12 theatres.

Prospective employees "auditioned" to become staff members in a highly unorthodox job interview involving karaoke, in a process designed to identify extroverted and energetic prospective employees.

In 1999, before SilverCity opened, Thunder Bay was being serviced by several old-style theatres. The Capitol, The Paramount, and a couple of others all dated to the 1920s, while the Cumberland Cineplex and Victoriaville Cinemas were part of the trend in the 1980s to have many small theatres.

SilverCity was a huge leap forward, with stadium seating, huge, comfortable seats, and excellent sound, as well as franchised food such as Taco Bell available in the lobby. It was part of Famous Players President John Bailey's push to compete with AMC and Cineplex, both of which were pushing this model across America and Canada. Famous Players

Soon after SilverCity opened, all the old film theatres were forced to close.

Famous Players expanded throughout the 1990s. Under chairman John Bailey, Famous Players re-built its infrastructure from 1996 to 2003 with new "megaplex" theatre brands featuring stadium seating, such as SilverCity and Coliseum, with food courts and video games. Around that time, AMC Theatres entered the Canadian market, and most of the traditional ties between the existing chains and the major studios began to unwind, putting all three chains in full-on competition in several major markets. In February 2005, Viacom announced the sale of Famous Players for $400 million.[7] Cineplex Galaxy, controlled by Onex Corporation acquired Famous Players from Viacom for $500 million (about US$397 million) in June 2005, with the deal was completed on July 22.

— Wikipedia [1]

To this day if I hear "Every Morning" by Sugar Ray or any of the other songs on that one mix tape that played nonstop in 1999 and 2000, it takes me back to my days of taking tickets and checking bathrooms every 30 minutes...

— Michael Currie, circa 2014 [2]

On 17 March 2020 SilverCity closed along with all other Cineplex theatres as part of an effort to combat COVID-19.

SilverCity just missed opening the biggest movie of the year, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Instead it was forced to open the much less well-reviewed Wild Wild West.

On 4-5 July 1999 the newly opened SilverCity was affected by a Derecho (straight-line wind storm) that passed through a large section of Northern Ontario [3]

I was working at Silvercity when the sky turned green...It was the Wild Wild West Premiere, and the rain soaked the hay, which got pulled inside...then the theatres flooded because Tom Jones did a shitty job sealing the doors...we were stuck going theatre to threatre, pushing water uphill with pushbrooms towards hidden drains. The building stunk like wet hay for about a month.

— Dane Newbold, one of the original employees, on Facebook, 21 April 2007 [1]

One day in summer 1999, a migration of moths were attracted to the very bright lights and all died in one night and the employees had to sweep them up with brooms. It was disgusting. There were thousands and thousands of moths, and some got into the theatre if any doors were left open.

— Michael Currie

1999 mixtape

A mixtape of music (which was an actual audiocassette, not a CD) was played at SilverCity on a loop for at least two years. It contained such songs as:

• American Woman
• Every Morning by Sugar Ray
• Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel 65
• You Get What You Give by New Radicals
• Def Leppard's Promises [2] (according to Ryan Trush)
• The Cult's Rise [3] (according to Ryan Trush)
• Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners
• Soak Up The Sun by Sheryl Crow
• Sweet Caroline
• Hero by Enrique Iglesais
• We Are the Party by Vengaboys

Current and Former Employees

Original Supervisors

• Bean, Donna, Crystal and Pat

Original Employees

• Ryan Trush
• Dane Newbold [4]]
• Michael Currie (May 1999 - June 2001)
• Jolene Mae, Alex Aiello, Lindsay Johns, Michael Currie, Chris Jason, Matthew Villella, Stefanie Hutter, Crystal White, Mike Sandrin, Gillian Stresman, Lauren Brescacin, Meghan Chomut, Lawrence Badanai, Kyle Cullingham, Toni Costa, Shauna Madonna, Crystal Spring, Kylie Sutton, Ryan Trush, Dane Newbold, Laura DaCosta Burns, Tannis Boire, Erin Elizabeth Bonan, Marta Della, Kathleen Mendelin Marchbank, Ryan Owen Cory Ketchum, Jason Kartman Kartanson and Cyn Nault.

Sources

[1] Net Newsledger, 17 March 2020. "Thunder Bay – Silver City to Close as Cineplex Closes Theatres" [5]

[2] Kat River's Facebook, 2012 [6]

[3] Boundary Waters–Canadian derecho, Wikipedia [7]