Brisbane arthouse cinema The Regal Twin sold after 50 years of ownership by one family
One of Brisbane’s few surviving independent cinemas - The Regal Twin at Graceville - has changed hands for the first time in 50 years. But in good news for movie buffs, the new owners have vowed to keep the indie tradition alive.
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CHANGING HANDS
One of Brisbane’s few surviving independent cinemas has changed hands for the first time in 50 years.
Paul Roobottom announced this week that he had sold The Regal Twin, a boutique arthouse theatre at Graceville.
Buying the family-owned business is another non-corporate player, Five Star Cinemas, which has vowed to keep screening the flicks which usually never appear at the big multiplexes.
That’s good news for movie buffs!
In an email to Regal patrons, Roobottom admitted that he had mixed emotions about the deal, which takes effect starting Monday.
“It’s now my time to journey down the rabbit hole of retirement and say farewell to this hedonistic, cinematic and romantic fairy tale career of being an independent motion picture exhibitor,’’ he said.
“I have witnessed so many changes of direction within the motion picture industry I can think of no greater challenge or rewarding profession. It truly has been my own Cinema Paradiso I will miss you all.”
The Regal becomes the fifth movie house in the Five Star stable, which includes the New Farm Cinemas, Red Hill Cinemas, Elizabeth Picture Theatre & Yatala Drive-In.
Five Star co-owner Peter Sourris declined to divulge the sale price when City Beat rang for a chat on Wednesday but he vowed there would be no major changes to the Regal’s operation.
Sourris said he has known Roobottom for many years and made clear that he would be keen to buy the business if it ever came on the market. Roobottom took him up on that offer during the Christmas holidays.
Both of their fathers were friends, which is not terribly surprising since each of the families has had a multi-generational involvement in the Brisbane cinema game.
Remarkably, the site of the Regal Twin on Honour Avenue’s retail strip has been tied to film since 1921, when an open air venue called the Graceville Picture Gardens started screening silent movies there.
A building was erected in the 1930s but it was rebuilt in 1953 and renamed to coincide with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. After it had gone through 14 owners, the Roobottom family bought the cinema in 1970.
GAS FLARE UP
Environmental activists have taken aim at a Brisbane-based junior miner just for welcoming a state government plan to look at building a new gas pipeline.
Anti-fracking greenies with the Lock the Gate Alliance slammed Blue Energy this week for its part in lobbying governments to use taxpayer funds to establish a pipeline linking Moranbah to the existing Gladstone/Wallumbilla pipeline.
Never mind that Blue Energy, headed by John Phillips, is an oil and gas explorer, not a fracking company!
And never mind that Bowen Basin gas production does not currently rely on the controversial extraction process!
What got Lock the Gate’s knickers in a knot was Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s plan to spend $5m on a concept study to investigate the feasibility and options for linking Bowen Basin gas reserves to the east coast of Queensland.
It was included in her “economic recovery plan’’ released last month as part of the fightback against the pandemic-triggered downturn.
Blue Energy, as you might expect, has a large tenement in the Bowen Basin, which studies show is so chockers with gas that a new southern pipeline could supply the east coast market for up to 30 years. (A northern pipeline has sent gas to Townsville since 2005.)
Earlier this year, Blue Energy acknowledged that it was actively working with other industry stakeholders to ensure the pipeline “gains broad acceptance as critical energy infrastructure’’.
It even referenced a leaked National COVID Coordination Committee final report recommending the federal government underwrite gas supply contracts and gas pipeline infrastructure.
That was enough to send Lock the Gate ballistic.
“Around the world, unconventional gas projects are bleeding money because they do not stack up financially on their own,” a group spin doctor said.
“Billions of dollars have been wiped off the Australian LNG industry alone since the global oil market crash, which ravaged the sector even before COVID-19 was impacting global markets.
“It’s clear the only way these unconventional gas companies can make money is if they stick out their hands for huge public subsidies.”
Despite the withering criticism, Phillips told City Beat that his firm is actively helping the state government secure funding for the pipeline project, which he said powered low emission electricity generation that greenies would welcome.
By pure chance, the dust up with Lock the Gate this week coincided with the renewal of Phillips’ contract for another three years. He’ll be taking home a bit more of the folding stuff, with his base salary lifting from $400,000 to $415,000.
Paradoxically, even with all that gas in the ground, Blue continues to bleed money, suffering a $4.65m net loss in the half-year to December.
BAD TIMING
The timing could hardly have been worse.
Back in 2014, Brisbane entrepreneur Marty Keetels launched what grew to become one of Australia’s biggest beer and music festivals.
But in late January he’d had enough so he kicked off an expressions of interest campaign to sell his BeerInCider business. Also on offer was the annual Beeries awards to recognise standout craft beer industry players in Queensland and his Redhair Events marketing firm.
After a number of offers landed on his desk, Keetels had a handshake agreement in late February to sell the lot to a prospective buyer, who he declined to name when City Beat caught up with him this week.
You can probably guess the rest. As the impending horror of COVID-19 came into clearer focus, the deal at an undisclosed price went up in smoke.
Keetels told us that he’s still in touch with two potential buyers but, for obvious reasons, it’s just not realistic to sell in the current environment.
“Once there’s a vaccine we’ll do a deal at a much lower price,’’ he said.
It’s still likely to be a pretty significant figure, though. The first festival saw about 2500 patrons and around 15 brewers rock up to the Albion Park Raceway, generating about $180,000 in turnover.
Last year, two-day festivals in both March and September at the RNA drew a crowd total of about 20,000, more than 60 brewers, plenty of food trucks and a bunch of bands. Revenue reached around $2 million and the event had also sprouted in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Keetels revealed this week that he has continued climbing the corporate ladder at Konica Minolta Australia, where he first started working in 2008.
He’s now the national manager for emerging technologies, a fast-growing sector focused on 3D printing and autonomous robots.