Most will remember the heydays of the wonderful 20th Century Cinema from the late 1950s to the mid 1980s. Here is how it looked in those days:
Things started to unravel when 20th Century Fox (EA) Ltd sold the cinema in 1986. They probably sold the theatre due to a combination of factors. English film cinema attendance had already fallen by 30% from 5.1 million in 1980 to 3.5 million in 1984. Their analysis probably revealed the film exhibition industry would collapse in Kenya given the extremely lax government controls in curbing VHS pirating early, and local cultures of obtaining things at a bargain and not losing sleep over foreign movie industry not being legally compensated. Not least events in the parent US company must have impacted events in Kenya. Marvin Davis was forced to sell the US company to Rupert Murdoch due to rising debt from a series of box office flops, and it is likely that as part of the company’s restructuring efforts it decided to dump its low profitability Kenyan Cinema assets and the hard-fought film distribution company.
Fox Theatres
The Fox Group operated Fox Theatres (including the 20th Century Cinema) and Fox Distribution. 25% of the shares was held by the Simba Group.
Local ownership by a company that hitherto had never operated cinemas probably further accentuated 20th Century Cinema’s precipitous decline.
I was beyond shocked when I visited the Kenya cinema on Moi Avenue to view the latest Bond film in 1987 (The Living Daylights). The quality of the film presentation was poor with the lighting particularly dark throughout the film. It was obvious the 35mm projector reflectors needed replacement. The auditorium lights during the preshow and interval were harshly bright, and instead of the smartly dressed and friendly cinema staff I had to maneuver through a scowling scruffy bookkeeper as I chose my favorite seat. It was as if he was doing me a favor!
What the Fox cinemas needed was Raman bhai Savani owner of Kenya Cinema Mombasa, who I think by far was most attuned to cinema patrons needs and incredibly always focused on providing a quality film presentation!
20th Century Plaza – 2 Screens!
With the declining cinema attendance, the owners decided to close and twin the cinema to 2 screens. The cinemas were advertised as 20th Century Screen 1 and Screen 2.
This was in operation until 2011.
This is how the 20th Century looked after twinning of the original cinema:
Imax 20th Century at the 20th Century Plaza – back to the future with 1 screen!
Fox Theatres faced declining profitability by early 2011 due to declining cinema attendance, increase in pirating and new players. The twining of the cinema could not save it! Fox Theatres sold 20th Century Plaza. Blue Sky World Ltd took over 20th Century Cinema.
By 2011 North America had replaced 35mm projection systems with digital projection systems. Most Hollywood movies in Canada were digitally presented in 2011. Nairobi kept up with new technology!
In November 2011 Screen 1 of 20th Century was closed and renovated while Screen 2 continued for a short time. The roof of Screen 1 was raised and a floor to roof extra-large Imax screen, 7.5m in height, imported from Canada was set up. The projectors are converted to a 3D Imax projection system. The auditorium was totally renovated and opened in March 2012 with 255 seats! Here is a photo of Imax 20th Century
2019 Fire
In March 2019 a fire broke out in the offices side of the 20th Century building. Nairobi fire fighters worked hard to put out a fire in the 20th Century building. The cinema escaped with no damage!
Here is a photo of the fire in progress:
Then of course the pandemic in March 2020 ruined things further. A dispute between the landlord and the cinema tenants after nonpayment of rent for 3 months resulted in the landlord closing the cinema and attempting to auction off the furniture and equipment! There were no buyers!
Anga CBD
After being closed for 2.5 years the cinema reopened as Anga CBD in December 2022. The trademark IMAX sign outside has disappeared and been replaced with ANGA CBD at the top of the building!! Here is the photo:
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