ShowBiz Pizza Place (Johnsonverse)

ShowBiz Pizza Place, often shortened to ShowBiz Pizza and operating as ShowBiz Pizza Fiesta in Mexico, is an American restaurant pizza chain and family entertainment center founded in 1980 by Robert L. Brock and Creative Engineering. The brand emerged following a separation between Brock and Pizza Time Theatre, owners of the Chuck E. Cheese's franchise. ShowBiz Pizza restaurants entertain guests through a large selection of arcade games, coin-operated rides, and animatronic stage shows as a way to provide a complete package of food and entertainment.

Both companies became competitors and found early success, partly due to the rise in popularity of arcade games during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The type of animatronics used in the ShowBiz Pizza chain – which featured an overall-clad, hillbilly bear named Billy Bob as one of its central characters – distinguished it from its rival which offered many of the same services. Following Pizza Time Theatre's bankruptcy filing in 1984, however, ShowBiz bought the struggling franchise to settle a former court settlement mandate and formed ShowBiz Pizza Time, a combination of the former companies' names. By 1992, all ShowBiz Pizza locations were rebranded as Chuck E. Cheese's.

Beginning in 2014, Jonhson Industries, which had acquired CEC Entertainment, Inc., revived the chain and rebranded its parent back to ShowBiz Pizza Time, Inc. The chain currently has locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, the Middle East, India, and Australia.

History
Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, responsible for bringing the first widely recognized video game Pong to the mainstream, headed a project in the mid-1970s for Atari to launch the first arcade-oriented, family restaurant featuring computer-controlled animatronics. At a time when arcades were popular in bowling alleys and bars, Bushnell sought to increase arcade exposure to a younger audience. In 1977, Atari opened the first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, CA. The concept became an immediate success, and after leaving Atari in 1978, Bushnell purchased the Pizza Time restaurant forming a new company under the title Pizza Time Theatre Inc.

As Bushnell heavily marketed the Pizza Time franchise hoping to expand into new markets, the concept began attracting high-profile clients such as Robert L. Brock, best known for his extensive portfolio of Holiday Inn hotels. In 1979, Brock signed a multimillion-dollar franchising agreement with the Pizza Time Theatre Inc., and expected to open as many as 280 Chuck E. Cheese's locations across 16 states in the United States. Shortly thereafter, Brock became concerned about protecting his investment, noticing companies such as Creative Engineering, Inc. (CEI) on the horizon designing more advanced animatronics. He grew concerned that future competitors would emerge with better technology. Bushnell previously reassured Brock at the signing of the franchising agreement that the company's technology would continue to evolve. However, prior to the grand opening of his first location, Brock decided he wanted to void the agreement with Pizza Time, and instead, form a partnership with CEI.

The first ShowBiz Pizza Place opened in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 3, 1980. At the time, Brock was quite successful as one of the largest franchisers in the Holiday Inn hotel system. The Brock Hotel Corporation owned 80 percent of ShowBiz Pizza Place, while the other 20 percent was owned by CEI, the company responsible for the production of the chain's animatronics show, The Rock-afire Explosion. By September 1981, the company had 48 company-owned outlets and 42 franchises. The company moved its headquarters in 1982 to Irving, Texas.

ShowBiz Pizza Time, Inc.
In 1984, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and its assets were purchased by ShowBiz. As a result of the merger, the newly formed company was named ShowBiz Pizza Time, Inc. – a combination of the former names. However, both restaurants continued operating as separate entities.

Richard M. Frank joined the company as president and chief operating officer in 1985. In 1986, he was named chairman and chief executive officer of the restaurant division. Based on customer research, Frank instituted a number of changes to appeal to younger children and parents. Specific measures included increased lighting, a redesigned food menu, table service, self-serve fountain drinks, a revamped ride selection, and distinct toddler areas. However, relations between ShowBiz and Creative Engineering began to deteriorate. Aaron Fechter, founder of CEI and creator of The Rock-afire Explosion, would later claim in 2008 that the fallout was due to a demand by Showbiz to own CEI's licensing and copyrights to the animatronics show. Fechter says he refused, since Showbiz didn't offer monetary compensation for the rights. Despite the refusal, CEI's creative control was jeopardized, as ShowBiz had the ability to program the characters and replicate their voices, allowing them to make changes to the skits. ShowBiz later returned the recording rights to Fechter following CEI's Liberty Show production (in commemoration of the Statue of Liberty's centennial in 1986), but they did not return the programming rights. In 1990, ShowBiz Pizza Time became a public company with its stock market launch. The following year, it severed all ties with Creative Engineering and began restructuring the restaurant chains under "concept unification". The change consisted of removing the Rock afire Explosion show from their restaurants and converting it into a new show called "Chuck E. Cheese & Munch's Make Believe Band", featuring the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre characters. In addition, all ShowBiz Pizza locations in the U.S. were rebranded as Chuck E. Cheese's, effectively ending the "ShowBiz Pizza" brand. By 1992, the conversion was complete, and ShowBiz Pizza Time became known as CEC Entertainment, Inc., in 1998 moving its stock from NASDAQ to NYSE. In February 2014, the company was purchased by Apollo Global Management for $1.3 billion.

Johnson Acquisition
On November 14, 2014, Johnson Foods (which owned the short-lived Mitzi's Pizza franchise) announced its acquisition of CEC Entertainment Inc. Initially, Apollo Global Management refused to sell, but after a massive letter-writing campaign by fans who had heard that Johnson's plans involved bringing back ShowBiz Pizza Place and the Rock-afire Explosion, relented, and sold CEC Entertainment for $3.2 billion.

The acquisition was completed on December 10, 2014, bringing 590 locations under Johnson control. Overnight, at many CEC locations, the animatronic shows went down for what was initially called "refurbishment". Speculation among online communities, especially at Retro Pizza Zone, pointed at Johnson beginning work to bring back the Rock-afire Explosion.

The Return of ShowBiz Pizza Place
On December 28, 2014, Johnson Industries officially announced the return of ShowBiz Pizza Place and the Rock-afire Explosion. Fans were overwhelmed with joy, and Retro Pizza Zone exploded in celebrations. Later in the day, Fechter released a video on his YouTube channel officially confirming that CEI would be involved in the band's return; he also revealed that he would begin hiring employees, even reaching out to many former CEI employees, to help him build new animatronics, while also expanding the CEI building space to incorporate the building next to it, which was acquired by Johnson in January 2014, before handing it to CEI shortly after.

Over the next several days, Fechter made several more videos revealing he had gotten Burt "Sal" Wilson as Fatz Geronimo, a role Fechter had taken over in recent years, Rick Bailey as Beach Bear, and Duke Chaupetta as Dook LaRue (having last recorded any material for the character in the mid-1990s) back for the band, along with Jeff Howell (Uncle Klunk) as a backup singer via a CyberStar monitor (though Klunk appears as an animatronic from time-to-time), while staying in the roles of Billy Bob, Looney Bird, Rolfe DeWolfe, and Earl Schmerle. Shalisa James, the voice of Mitzi Mozzarella, had refused to come back, believing she now sounded too old to be a role model for young girls, as Mitzi had been designed as such. As a result, Johnson Industries launched national auditions to find the new voice of Mitzi, eventually selecting 10-year old Sarah Locke of Kenner, Louisiana. Locke voices Mitzi's daughter, Mitzi Mozzarella Jr. (who has the same wardrobe as her mother, though she wears a ponytail instead of pigtails and has a more independent personality, also incorporating some of Locke's personal life such as having an interest in acting), with James making occasional return appearances as Mitzi Sr. (for these appearances, a spare Mitzi animatronic is retrofitted to look older, wearing a different wardrobe consisting of green hair bows, a mint green sweater, a leopard-print choker necklace, a white skirt, and black heel boots). James' old performances from the 1980s are still used in recycled songs for Mitzi Jr. Meanwhile, beginning in March 2015, 53 Chuck E. Cheese's locations began undergoing a new process known as "Concept Division", in which the Concept Unification process was undone. These locations were henceforth renamed ShowBiz Pizza Place, including new signage, new paint, and a completely redesigned interior, including installing a wall between the dining area and the gaming area to get the lighting right for the shows. All 45 Mitzi's Pizza locations were remodeled into ShowBiz locations, with some of their locations' New Rock-afire Explosions being retained (albeit with Mitzi's perm being changed to her daughter's ponytail), though the name was repurposed as ShowBiz's newly-formed "express" branch, as Mitzi's Pizza by ShowBiz. Chuck E. Cheese's introduced a new "Rockstar Stage", along with a new interior and exterior design.

The first location of the resurrected ShowBiz Pizza Place opened on August 20, 2015 in San Jose, California at Tulley Road (which had been CEC's flagship location for years). The doors opened at 10:00 a.m., and at 8:00 p.m., the Rock-afire Explosion made their official return, playing a short setlist of all of the songs from the original 1980 showtape, receiving a standing ovation. Starting in December 2016, the band received an animated series on Netflix, with all of the voice actors reprising their roles for the series.

Over the next year, even more CEC locations were transformed into ShowBiz Pizza locations, and new ShowBiz locations were opened, though more often than not, they were opened at or near where prior ShowBiz locations and other restaurants with Rock-afire Explosions (including Looney Bird's, a short-lived restaurant chain Fechter founded in the mid-1990s after cutting ties with SPT) had once stood, including a new ShowBiz location at Phenix City, Alabama, in the same building that had previously housed the ShowBiz Pizza Zone between 2008 and 2010. Another, in Barboursville, West Virginia, opened in 2017, having previously housed a restaurant called Billy Bob's Wonderland since 2003; due to the poor condition of that location's Rock-afire Explosion, it was restored in January 2018, using a large CyberStar monitor as a placeholder. The stated goal was to have at least one of each brand in each major city to provide options. By the end of 2018, 401 CEC locations remained, with Johnson stating that he does not plan on getting rid of the CEC brand entirely, instead focusing it on kids and families (compared to ShowBiz Pizza Place, which focuses on teens and adults). The direction is also reflected in the chain's new slogan "Come for the Pizza, Stay for the Fun", while CEC retained "Where a Kid Can Be a Kid". With the revival of ShowBiz, the Rock-afire Explosion also received several changes. Namely, Fechter's scrapped "2nd Generation" version of the animatronics was fully realized. Mitzi Jr. is capable of doing movements such as "hip twists", as well as the ability to actually "dance", while Dook can play a full set of drums, swivel his waist, play drums that surround him, raise his arms to hit cymbals above him, and even reach one arm across the other while playing, and Beach Bear can stand up off of his surfboard, among other upgrades; Fechter stated that he is working on a "3rd Generation" version of the band, which will use some technology from Johnson's own AnimeTronic technology, which CEI had worked on, including having the characters actually walk. An animatronic Paul McCartney was also fully realized as well, replacing Rolfe and Earl every year; McCartney voices himself for these showtapes. The company also tested a "Rotating Stage" concept for three large-scale locations in 2017, which make both Left and Right Stage rotate; one side has the standard characters for these stages, and the other side is able to use rotating guest stars without having to remove regular characters, while the banners above them rotate with the stages. This test was successful, and it is being rolled out for all ShowBiz and Chuck E. Cheese's locations throughout the next several years, along with the installation of a rotating Center Stage, mainly so that, in the event of a major issue on Center Stage, the Rock-afire Explosion can easily be taken offline and substituted with Ho-Kago Teatime, or vice-versa.

Expanding to the Japanese Isles
On January 2, 2015, Johnson Industries announced the formation of a new ShowBiz franchise in Japanese isles, slated to open its first location in March 2016. This franchise was the culmination of several meetings with Japanese investors and correspondences between Johnson and Fechter regarding options for the animatronic shows.

It was decided that, since the Rock-afire Explosion was too "American" for Japanese audiences (even though 85% of the country spoke English following Japan's annexation in 1952), they would be replaced by characters who were more regionally relevant. According to insiders, it took Johnson literally seconds to think up a replacement: Ho-Kago Teatime from the hit anime and manga K-On!, which was massively popular, and the series was already on its way to the Johnson Aligned Universe; as a result, they could use their voice-changing abilities added in the Johnson version to enable the use of Rock-afire material and any other songs from other bands such as Styx, Guns n' Roses, any Beatles songs that didn't have Rock-afire covers, among many other bands, as most of the voice actresses were found to be unfit for regular singing. Making the replacement even more seamless was the fact that the characters could easily replace the Rock-afire characters, as they all played virtually the same instruments as their Rock-afire counterparts.

Henceforth, it was decided. For the transition to the Japanese isles, Center Stage would be completely remodeled. Instead of a forest setting, it is now set in the Light Music Club room at Sakuragaoka High School. Each of the Center Stage characters were replaced according to their role: Dook was replaced by Ritsu Tainaka (voiced by Cassandra Lee Morris), Fatz by Tsumugi "Mugi" Kotokubi (voiced by Shelby Lindley, who occasionally does sing using her own voice due to being a singer), Beach Bear by Yui Hirasawa (voiced by Stephanie Sheh), and Mitzi by Mio Akiyama (voiced by Cristina Valenzuela), though she plays bass, while Mitzi is simply the female vocalist. The decision was later made to have Mio remain as bassist, and also serve as a prominent vocalist in the band (even though all characters would be vocalists, as with the Rock-afire Explosion). Choo-Choo and Antioch were completely omitted from the new set-up, while the Sun and Moon were retained. The changes for the Japanese locations only affected Center Stage, and Stages Left and Right were completely unchanged, retaining Billy Bob, Looney Bird, Rolfe, and Earl.

The K-On! animatronics are second-generation AnimeTronics. All animatronics have a massive range of movement, and have onboard computers and rechargeable lithium batteries (the rest of the animatronics still use hydraulics, external computers and power supplies, and still need to be aired-up before opening). The animatronics have other advanced features: Ritsu and Mugi can actually play their instruments, as Ritsu is reverse-engineered from Dook's second-generation animatronic that CEI resumed development on (though Mugi's Korg Triton keyboard is plugged into a dummy socket, as all music comes from the soundtrack), Yui can actually jump a few inches off the ground, ShowBiz cast members can "speak" to audience members using VoxMutatio, Johnson's voice-changer technology that makes them sound exactly like their voice actresses, and all four have clothes that are easily removed. The clothes are washed weekly in specifically-labeled washing machines, and during the summer months, the overcoats are removed from the animatronics to simulate their summer uniforms. They are also anatomicallly-correct, leading to several reports of guests groping the animatronics or attempting to engage in intercourse with them. They also have real hair that is washed nightly using rinse-free shampoo. The animatronics are so advanced, that consideration was given to having them do OK Go's famed treadmill dance routine for "Here It Goes Again", before tests with generic AnimeTronics showed the technology wasn't at that point yet, with at least one AnimeTronic being totaled during these tests. All HTT animatronics have numerous failure modes in the event of various issues, ranging from cosmetic issues to major mechanical malfuctions. In the event of a Mode 5x failure, a backup showtape containing only Billy Bob and Looney Bird material is activated, as both have less moving parts; some locations have a turntable with a full Rock-afire Explosion setup on the reverse side to serve as a backup in the event a Mode 5x failure necessitates taking the HTT show offline for a prolonged period.

In addition to HTT, the band is occasionally joined by Yui's childhood friend, Nodoka Manabe (voiced by Laura Bailey), who replaces Billy Bob on Stage Left, and also has a rear-projected screen to present lessons on the history of ShowBiz Pizza Place, Pizza Time Theatre, and Chuck E. Cheese's. Her animatronic has the ability to pick up and manipulate objects, such as a stick she uses during her lessons, a cup of coffee that she "drinks" from, a dummy iPhone, and a remote to start and stop the videos on her screen. For Nodoka, Looney Bird and the Smitty's Super Service Station backdrop are unchanged, with everyone pointing this fact out and calling out ShowBiz's laziness. Nodoka's animatronic has the N failure mode identifier.

The first Japanese Isles location opened on March 12, 2016 in Tokyo, Kantō in a public ceremony that included Tim and the voice actors for all of the Rock-afire and Ho-kago Tea Time band members. The location, which is the largest in the chain, consists of three floors, including a dance floor, as well as more games than standard ShowBiz locations. The opening resulted in high sales on the first day.

Expansion worldwide
In November 2016, the first twenty Canadian ShowBiz Pizza Place locations opened, spread across its provinces. The old Department 18 animatronics of Munch's Make-Believe Band were reverted back to the Rock-afire Explosion for those locations. In March 2017, ShowBiz Pizza Place returned to Mexico with twelve locations, operating as ShowBiz Pizza Fiesta (the name it had also used in the country in the 1980s). The revived Mexican locations use different voices for the Rock-afire Explosion, as the original Latin American voice actors are unknown; these same voice actors reprise their roles in the Latin American dub of The Rock-afire Explosion Show as well. The locations in Kuwait City, Kuwait, Beirut, Lebanon, and Dubai, India all reopened later in 2017.

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