Gold Coast cinemas: Five closed theatres from Mermaid Beach to Surfers Paradise

The Gold Coast has had a long love affair with trips to the movies, dating back more than a century. From Surfers Paradise to Mermaid Beach, these are the five closed theatres we miss most.

A TRIP to the cinema was one of the Gold Coast’s most popular pastimes before COVID-19 left the industry changed beyond recognition.

While cinemas have reopened, few films are coming out and the crowds which once flocked through their open doors are yet to reappear.

With little on the schedule until 2021, it is clear that 2020 will be a year to forget for cinemas.

The Gold Coast’s love affair with movies dates back more than a century, with theatres popping up in many different locations over the years.

Many have closed over the years but memories of cinemagoers remain strong, even decades later.

Here are five cinemas locals miss most:

Old Pacific Fair cinema

The Pacific Fair cinema on opening day in 1997.

When it opened in early 1997, the Pacific Fair cinema was the biggest on the Gold Coast.

With 12 screens, its opening was a major event and coincided with that year’s re-release of Star Wars, which was the only movie to screen there on day one.

The Pacific Fair candy bar. There was always a mess on the floor from the popcorn and frozen coke machines.

During its heyday it became well-known for its movie marathons and also hosted hundreds of Star Wars fans again in 2005 for the midnight premier of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Inside the old Pacific Fair cinema.

It soon became a popular hangout for teenagers through the late 1990s and 2000s but fell out of favour in the early 2010s once the new Robina Cinema opened. It closed during the shopping centre’s redevelopment and reopened in the mid-2000s.

Regent

The Regent was Southport's first cinema. Located at 50 Nerang Street, Southport and opposite today's Courthouse Hotel.

The Regent was the Gold Coast’s first cinema, built on Southport’s Davenport St and screened its first film on October 1, 1912.

The theatre was originally known as the Regent and first screened a film about the then-recent sinking of the Titanic, which was interrupted by a fault, forcing staff to send the audience home.

The cinema was expanded between 1918 and 1920 to increase its capacity to 1000 seats in response to the medium’s growing popularity.

Sound was introduced to film in 1929 and the building soon received an RCA Photophone sound system, which led its owners to alter its name to the ‘Regent Talkies’.

Its closure was announced in April 1965 to make way for a £300,000 development

Mermaid Beach

The Mermaid Beach Cinema complex circa the 1980s

The existing building opened in the early 1980s and replaced the old cinema.

The newest theatre cost $1.9 million, featured just two theatres and was initially known simply as the Mermaid Twin Cinema.

The strong crowds led its owners to launch a $1 million expansion in late 1983 when a third theatre was added, seating an extra 336 people.

In 1987 it was renamed the Mermaid Cinema Centre and grew to five theatres with room for 1600 people.

Opening in December 1987, it was the largest cinema complex in the state at the time.

But a decade later the opening of cinemas at Pacific Fair and Robina saw Mermaid become a second-run theatre and ultimately close in the early 2000s.

Southport Pier

The old Southport pier and cinema.

As demand for movies continued to grow, a second cinema was opened on the second Southport pier in 1927.

It burnt down in 1932 but was soon rebuilt as the Pier Talkies and remained in service until the pier was demolished in 1969 by the Gold Coast City Council.

The cinema showed “Talkies”.

Surfers Paradise

By the mid-1980s cinemas were a profitable business, with Gold Coasters flocking to see blockbusters.

Hoyts opened a cinema in central Surfers Paradise in 1985 on the corner of Clifford St and Surfers Paradise Blvd.

The old Hoyts cinema in 1992. Picture: Paul O'Connor.

With a McDonald’s and Pancakes in Paradise, it proved a popular hangout from the 1980s through the late 1990s.

But with cinemas open at Robina, Pacific Fair, Australia Fair, Mermaid Beach and Harbour Town, the market became crowded and the Surfers Paradise cinema closed in April 2000.