Brisbane cinema boom as complexes attached to apartments

BRISBANE is undergoing an explosion in new cinema developments — and unlike previous shopping centre complexes, many are attached to residential development.

THE suburban cinema is back.

Brisbane’s controversial Urban Renewal high-density-living plan around transport hubs has revived suburban movie theatres.

Dendy Cinemas has opened 10 screens in the Coorparoo Square apartment complex, while a cinema is planned for a major two-storey development at Wynnum and another in a 144-apartment and retail upgrade of Ferny Grove railway station.

In all, half a dozen complexes will light up in the coming years, including Reading Cinemas’ complex at Newmarket on December 14, which comes on top of the opening of the Dendy at Coorparoo Square and the Elizabeth Picture Theatre in the CBD.

Reading Cinemas will also have a complex in the $600 million South City Square project at Woolloongabba, which has residential towers as well as commercial and retail businesses, when it opens early next decade.

Artist’s impression of the South City Square development at Woolloongabba

Reading Cinemas Australia and New Zealand managing director Wayne Smith said Brisbane’s apartment boom had made cinema complexes, when combined with major developments, economically viable.

“We have picked the eyes out of it (our cinema locations) strategically and jumping into the city fringe where we think there is a future for them and trying to make informed decisions,” Mr Smith said.

“There has been a lot of centralisation of, in the last 10 or 15 years, both apartment dwellers and smaller complexes for inner city living and pushing retail and other activities back into city fringes.”

The turnaround in the fortunes of local cinema complexes comes after several predominantly independent theatres closed their doors over the past few decades.

Among those to shut were The Dawn at Chermside, the Gaythorne Cinema on Samford Rd and the Boomerang at Annerley.

The death knell for cinemas has been sounded not once, but on several occasions over the past 40 years, National Association of Cinema Operators executive director Michael Hawkins said.

Artists’s impression of Reading’s proposed Newmarket cinema

Mr Hawkins said cinema operators had been under attack since the ’70s when VCRs became household products and a trip to the video store was a weekly family ritual.

“Despite the advent of television, then colour television, videos, DVD, pay TV, streaming and video-on-demand, cinema maintains its standing as the most popular and affordable form of out-of-home entertainment,” he said.

“Content consumers, despite the convenience of miniature devices, aren’t prepared to abandon the sense of community, and the experience of the big screen, big sound and big seats, that cinema brings.”

Supporting his argument is the fact that eight of the top 10 highest-grossing films of all time have been released in the past five years.

It’s not just the major players like Reading, Hoyts and Dendy Cinemas cashing in on the revival.

The Sourris family, which owns the Yatala Drive-In and the New Farm cinema, recently was behind the Elizabeth Picture Theatre and it has an application for another with Brisbane City Council.

How the Mt Ommaney Shopping Centre cinema complex will look

The Sourrises, who converted the former Irish Club into the Elizabeth Picture Theatre, are seeking approval for a five-screen theatre on the site of the razed skate rink on Enoggera Terrace, Paddington.

Council planning committee chairman Julian Simmonds said cinemas were a valuable part of the nighttime and leisure economy, and developers were choosing their sites based on their own economic and market analysis.

He said there were no criteria preventing cinemas from being established in their own right, but they were extremely popular within businesses and retail centres.

“Cinemas are considered an acceptable development use for business precincts across the city, which aims to provide a hub for commercial businesses and services for residents,” he said.

All but the Sourris’ family’s two complexes are either connected to, or associated with, shopping centres or apartment buildings.

The Enoggera Terrace cinema plan includes a boutique ten-pin bowling alley with two lanes.

Bowling alleys, like drive-ins, stood alongside cinemas as a major pastime some 50 years ago.

The abandoned skating rink at Paddington could rise again as a cinema complex.

Yet ten-pin bowling and drive-ins were now novelty outings, while cinemas had stood the test of time, Mr Hawkins said.

“I believe that the number of new cinemas soon to open speaks to the enduring strength of cinema as a community hub, and the confidence of cinema owners in the future of cinema as a totally immersive, yet shared emotive experience,” he said.

As for the death of cinemas anytime soon, Mr Smith doubted a night out the movies would ever end, even as home entertainment systems got bigger and better.

“Every home has a kitchen, and there are restaurants out there that have flourished for years,” he said.

“Entertainment is a little bit the same, and we have to have faith in that it’s an industry will continue for many, many years to come.”

The new Dendy Cinemas Coorparoo Square. Picture: Brian Bennion

NEW CINEMA COMPLEXES

Coorparoo: The Dendy Cinemas complex boasts 10 screens and is situated in the redevelopment of Coorparoo Square apartment complex on the site of Queensland’s first Myer store. Opened November 30. Proprietor: Dendy Cinemas.

Elizabeth Picture Theatre (site of former Queensland Irish Association, 179 Elizabeth St): The heritage building was converted into a seven-screen cinema complex with more than 200 seats. Opened October. Proprietor: Sourris family.

Coming soon

Newmarket: It’s been a long time in the planning, but finally the screens Reading announced many years are about to come to life. The eight-screen complex opens December 14. Proprietor: Reading Cinemas.

Mt Ommaney Shopping Centre: A nine-screen complex spread over two levels and covering over 4000sq m of floor space has been approved by council. Proprietor: TBA.

Enoggera Terrace, Paddington (site of the former skating rink): Five cinemas, 355 seats – application lodged with council in October. Proprietor: Sourris family.

Ferny Grove: The proposed eight-screen complex is part of a massive development and overhaul at Ferny Grove station, which includes 144 residential units and a supermarket, announced in June. Proprietor: TBA.

Wynnum: An eight-screen cinema has been included in plans to build two eight-storey residential towers in Berrima and Bride streets. Application lodged on June 21. Proprietor: TBA.

Woolloongabba: Approval has been given for the development of $600 million South City Square on the corner of Deshon St and Logan Rd. The development includes a cinema complex as well as residential towers and retail and commercial businesses. Opens 2021-22. Proprietor: Reading Cinemas.