Adelaide to lose last CBD cinema complex

[Düsseldorfer]

ANDREW FENTON

August 26, 2008 12:01am


ADELAIDE will become the only capital in Australia without a mainstream city cinema when the Greater Union City complex in Hindley St closes on September 17.

The cinema has been leased to Edge Church's city campus, which will hold its first service in Cinema 5 on September 7 while movies play next door.

Greater Union's Hindley St complex has struggled with poor attendance for many years and it has been looking to sell or lease the property for at least the past five years.

Local exhibitors blame the cinema's poor performance on its hidden-away, off-street location and argue Hindley St's sleazy reputation has driven away families.

"That probably doesn't help," Greater Union regional manager Mark Mannswirth admitted.

But a major factor has been a massive increase in the popularity of suburban multiplexes in the 1990s at Marion, Norwood, Salisbury, Elizabeth, West Lakes and Mitcham.

These multiplexes are usually closer, more family-friendly and offer more modern facilities and better parking. The closure comes a year after Wallis Academy on Hindmarsh Square shut its doors and four years after the Regent cinemas closed.

The only new-release cinema left in the city is Palace Nova, which caters mainly for arthouse crowds.

While the other cinemas are closing, it is expanding, and recently opened a new 290-seat cinema and intends to open two more boutique theatres in November.

It has begun showing more mainstream films such as The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia!, but marketing manager Anna O'Connor said arthouse films and special events would still comprise the bulk of the program.

Wallis Cinemas program manager Bob Parr argued that city cinemas were not completely dead – and pointed to the success of Hoyts' recently built Melbourne Central complex, which is one of the biggest-grossing cinemas in the country.

"I think there's still room for someone to build a mainstream 10-screen city cinema like we have at Mitcham," he said.
CLOSED FOR BUSINESS

Wallis Academy: Hindmarsh Square, closed in August 2007.

The Regent Theatre: Regent Arcade, closed January 2004

IMAX Cinema: Rundle St, closed in January 2002, reopened as Palace Nova Cinema 1 on Boxing Day 2007.

Greater Union Hindley Cinemas: Closed in 1991 when the current complex opened.

The Fair Lady: Hindley St, closed 1984

The Warner (formerly The Majestic): Hindley St, closed 1980.

Wests: Closed 1977, reopened in 1982 as part of Greater Union Hindley Cinemas

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 01,00.html

[Will]

I am worried at the prospect of having an evangelical church in Hindley Street, in that it increases the risk of members of that church lobbying the ACC to crush nightlife in Hindley Street as it may offend their morals. This is a backwards step for the city, and I hope the ACC see how deleterious this could be for Adelaide. Legislation should be introduced to ban the establishment on places of worship in nightlife zones.

[omada]

I don't think it's a problem really, Palace Nova is good enough for me..

If mainstream crap is your thing, then head up to Piccadilly in North Adelaide..

[Xaragmata]

ANDREW FENTON

The Warner (formerly The Majestic): Hindley St, closed 1980.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 01,00.html

Odd, I remember the Warner (Majestic) being in King William Street - quite an attractive building with balcony.

[jimbly_]

Well at least Michael Guglielmucci won't have as far to go to get 'material' for his hobby

[Tyler_Durden]

It's a shame although I admit it's been a long time since I attended that cinema. And I attend cinemas regularly. One of the problems for me was that it had a fairly limited choice of movies and times compared to most other places. And as much as I love the Hindley Street it's not really a good place for a mainstream cinema complex. Not anymore anyway.

I hope one day a large multiplex can open in the Rundle Mall vicinity. I don't think it will but I remain hopeful.

Whether you like mainstream Hollywood movies or not you all have to admit it's a pretty damning blight on our city that there will be nowhere in the city at all that you can go to see the latest blockbuster movie. It would be pretty hard to find a Western city anywhere else in the world where that would be the case.

Forget about some boring 10 storey apartment complex, it's entertainment venues, such as cinemas, that attract people and make a city worth visiting. This is a real shame.

[jk1237]

that Greater Union complex and its associated mall-arcade thing was a failure right from the start. If it was right on street frontage it would have been okay, but its setback nature from a street that doesnt exactly 'go off' with pedestrian activity in that area, was designed very very dismally.

[AtD]

that Greater Union complex and its associated mall-arcade thing was a failure right from the start. If it was right on street frontage it would have been okay, but its setback nature from a street that doesnt exactly 'go off' with pedestrian activity in that area, was designed very very dismally.

Agreed. It was designed in ignorance of its surrounds.

If I were the owners of the Harris Scarfe or Regent Arcade developments, I'd take a serious look at what options they have for including a cinema.

[Shuz]

Or the Myer Centre's top floors could be renovated to accomodate a new cinema complex?

[crawf]

I am worried at the prospect of having an evangelical church in Hindley Street, in that it increases the risk of members of that church lobbying the ACC to crush nightlife in Hindley Street as it may offend their morals. This is a backwards step for the city, and I hope the ACC see how deleterious this could be for Adelaide. Legislation should be introduced to ban the establishment on places of worship in nightlife zones.

That will never happen, I reckon it wont be long before a cinema is built in the Rundle Mall precinct

[Norman]

Or the Myer Centre's top floors could be renovated to accomodate a new cinema complex?

That sounds good to me!

[Wayno]

i'm not overly fussed about this. A nice modern cinema will pop up again in the city as the residential demand builds...

[Just build it]

That's what the Brisbane Myer Centre did. It's the exactly same sort of cheesy late '80s/'90s Myer Centre design as ours and originally had an amusement arcade with roller coaster in the top. We had 'Dazzleland', they had 'Tops'. They shut down Tops in 2001 and turned it into cinemas. Not sure if they're popular though.

I have to admit it's kind of pathetic to not have a single mainstream cinema complex in a city the size of Adelaide. Definitely not something you'd put in a tourist brochure and rather embarrassing for the hoteliers when a guest asks were to go to see a flick ("yeah North Adelaide, Norwood Parade, up Kensington Rd a few kays or out to Marion luv"). It shows how heavily the suburban mega-cinemas are sucking away hundreds of thousands of visits to the city each year.

[Hindley Street Alley]

agreed, the positioning, set so far away from the street (where many people would never notice it or know that it exists) was bad for business.

And yes, it would be great to see a new one pop up somewhere near rundle mall

[UrbanSG]

Cinemas are on the way out. I believe we will be lucky to get a new one in the CBD. Seriously between crappy movies, the expense of going to the cinema, having to sit with idiots who talk and make too much noise cinemas really don't stand a chance. I wouldn't be surprised if one day we are just left with the one at Marion.