If you watched my “Commercial Edit II” video from last September all the way to the end credits, you might remember seeing a teaser announcement about a video I would be making about Planet Hollywood. And if you watched the other video about the Rudolph collab, you may remember saying I would’ve had it out by New Year’s Eve Well after five months of planning, research and editing, as well as several delays to focus on other things, I am relieved to bring you what might be my most ambitious video to date. While plenty of other YouTubers have done their own take on the rocky history of this once bustling theme-entertainment franchise, mine is especially focused on the ones that once had a place in the frosty country known as Canada. Ranging from both contenders of Hollywood North to the Prairies, as well as the City of Saints, they opened during a period in the late 1990’s when Planet Hollywood began to expand outside the United States and the biggest one was on their side of the tourist mecca - Niagara Falls, right by the American border. Unfortunately, over expansion was one of many the contributing downfalls to their Chapter 11 bankruptcy they filed by the end of the 20th century and by the early 2000s, nearly all the locations that opened in Canada were shuttered for good. The one in Niagara Falls managed to persevere for a little while longer, though it finally gave up the ghost in 2017. Though unlike the other restaurants that have long been replaced by other establishments, the building’s structure has been left standing as a monument of the past and a hotspot for up-and-coming urban explorers. In a whooping 37 minutes, I cover the known aspects of every Canadian Planet Hollywood including their years of operation, how many celebrities showed up, and what props they had on display.
This project is the culmination of two years of research I did looking into Planet Hollywood, which has left quite an impression as although I’ve only ever eaten from one of their locations once (Downtown Disney in 2007), I’ve always loved the concept of genuine/replicated props and costumes from movies & TV shows hung around the dining tables and although many may see it as a cash-in on Hard Rock Cafe, I’ve alway’s preferred Planet Hollywood over the other chain; though maybe it’s because it sparked my fascination for movies and the props they build for making them. If you’ve read my Wordpress blog, you’ll see Planet Hollywood show up quite a bit on the pages I write about movie memorabilia and once I do a Part 8 in the nearby future, I assure you this video will be part of the post.
Now keep in mind that even though I said I would be covering every aspect of Planet Hollywood Canada, I didn’t say they would all be in this video as that would only make it slightly longer than it already is. So if I want to see other props they had in some of the restaurants (a majority of them being Niagara’s), as well as unused pictures for certain sequences, there is a link down below to a Google Drive video I made back in December 2022 in advance:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xcQDwseGnRJGiMOe5nxHECgtG1-PTt66
Also, for all the extensive sources I listed, there were a few I choose not to put in the credits due to them being dead links archived on the Wayback Machine. To view them, simply click down below:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190401210157/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1996/8/26/opening-notes
https://web.archive.org/web/20060103214650/http://home.hiwaay.net/~warydbom/duesouth/hlywood.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20050125174423/http://members.aol.com/anyfing4u/private/torontosun.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20060219085630/http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/tiff99/tiff10.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20060113045535/www.paved.ca/paved/2006/01/planet_crashes.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20101221074442/http://niagarafallsplanethollywood.com/faq/frequently-asked-questions
https://web.archive.org/web/20060112002109/http://www.comfortniagara.com/niagara_falls_dining_planet_hollywood/
https://profilesinhistory.com/flipbooks/A103Legends/mobile/index.html#p=1
https://profilesinhistory.com/flipbooks/A112Icons2/mobile/index.html#p=1
https://ia601802.us.archive.org/12/items/a-120-icons-se-6/A120Icons-se6.pdf