| Name | Australasian Films /UnionTheatres |
| Address | |
| Suburb/Town | |
| State | Unknown |
| Country | Australia |
| Comments | The distribution arm of the Combine, with Union Theatres as its exhibition arm. Founded by a series of mergers in 1911 and 1913 between Amalgamated Pictures, J. D. Williams, Spencer's, and West's. The company was headed on a long-term basis by Stuart Doyle. Its US representative was Millard Johnson and its general manager was W.A. Gibson. Australasian initially bought agency rights to international films in the London market, though its distribution business was progressively curtailed as American producers established their own direct distribution subsidiaries in Australia. In 1920 Australasian distributed Warner, Pathe, Vitagraph as well as Stoll and Hepworth from Britain and the major producers from Continental Europe. In 1922 UT controlled over 100 screens at the first release end of the market. By mid-1920s, Australasian’s major business was distribution of Warner and Producers Distributing Corporation films. In 1925 AF was listed as releasing 2 films each week and being the proprietor of JC Williamsons’ distribution company which released a further 1 film each week making it numerically, the biggest distributor in Australia. By 1926, Australasian had lost PDC to First National and picked up the rights to Columbia. When Columbia announced in 1928 that it would establish its own distribution in Australia, Australasian announced that it would withdraw from distribution by March 1929 to concentrate on its exhibition arm. The Union Theatres combine underwent reorganisation in 1931 to become Greater Union. |