Cinebar: Rooftop cinema planned for Coolangatta’s The Strand shopping centre

Plans have been unveiled for an unusual cinema which will be built on top of a well-known Gold Coast shopping centre with steps taken to stop young people seeing mature content. DETAILS

Plans have been unveiled for an unusual expansion of the cinema at Coolangatta’s The Strand. Cinebar wants to build a cinema on the roof of the beachfront shopping centre, which would have room for 180 people to watch a movie projected onto a big screen.

According to the plans, which will be assessed by the Gold Coast City Council in coming months, attendees would wear headphones while the sound of the film is broadcast directly to their ears.

The rooftop theatre would be the cinema’s seventh screen.

Artist impression of a rooftop cinema which is proposed for The Strand in Coolangatta. Picture: Supplied

“Cinebar Coolangatta currently operates six screens, all contained within the podium of The Strand Shopping Centre,” a planning report on the project reads.

“The proposed development is to add a seventh screen on the rooftop of the shopping centre, with patrons wearing headphones to listen to the screenings in a similar manner to a silent disco.

“(It) will use fold-out seats, to be set up and removed by staff for each day’s screenings.

“The cinema screen and the projection equipment structures would be permanently installed in place.”

The screen would stand at 6.5m by 10m.

The rooftop as it appears today. Picture: Supplied

Cinebar have told council it will not use the rooftop space for any functions other than screening films.

“The sole source of audio for attendees will stem from headphones, with one set provided to each customer,” the planning report reads.

“The orientation of the screen and seating have also been aligned to effectively screen the proposal from view from both neighbouring apartment buildings and locations on ground level, reducing both the overall impact of screen light and the possibility of exposing more mature movies to underage audiences at a distance.”

The proposal comes nearly three years after Cinebar took over the vacated cinema complex at the shopping centre.

The former Events Cinemas-operated complex closed in March 2022 after operating for nearly 32 years.

Cinebar took it over later the same year promoting “state-of-the-art digital projection and sound”.