Roseville cinema refuses to sell to developers

Developers are circling an iconic Sydney cinema but the owners say they have no interest in selling, describing the pressure as “appalling”.

Roseville cinemas has been operated by the same family for half a century.

Developers are circling an iconic Sydney cinema but owners say they have no interest in selling.

Roseville Cinemas, on the Pacific Highway in Sydney’s north shore, is an independent cinema that has been run by the Adagio family for half a century.

This week they received a letter from developer Hyecorp seeking to discuss a potential acquisition of the property.

Co-owner Emma Adagio described the letter to 2GB as “horrible, appalling”.

“It made me quite upset,” she said.

“If somebody wants to sell a place they will choose when they sell it.”

Ms Adagio said her family had “no intention” of selling up.

“We have the support of the community. You can’t replace community with a big fat chequebook,” she said. “It is in our blood.”

The managing director of Hyecorp Stephen Abolakian told news.com.au that as a “local family-owned property company we regularly reach out to nearby and neighbouring landowners to assess mutually beneficial opportunities”.

“We naturally respect the position of any and all landowners and understand the uncertainty surrounding development and rezoning at the moment,” he said.

Mr Abolakian noted Hyecorp has partnered with The Roseville Club - a few doors down from The Roseville Cinema - on the “joint reimaging of another invaluable community asset”.

“That project, now known as Juliet Roseville, recently received planning approval for a brand new Roseville Club, underground car parking and 37 apartments above with construction due to commence later this year,” he said.

“We regularly approach landowners with a letter of introduction and it is usually a first step to open dialogue with them to assess if there are mutually beneficial opportunities that could be explored which may include working together in partnership and guiding landowners through the development process but we are always very respectful of their openness or not to explore options together.”

Roseville Cinema on Sydney’s north shore.

Last year Roseville cinema made headlines for being one of the few cinemas in the country to not show Barbie, a movie phenomenon that racked up almost $2.2 billion at the box office.

At the time Ms Addario said there’s no sense of FOMO among staff about the decision to not screen the Margot Robbie-led and produced film.

“It’s nothing against Barbie – I’ve seen the film myself and actually quite enjoyed it but we didn’t think it was something our patrons would want to see,” she said.

“We tend to have a more mature crowd and we didn’t think Barbie quite fitted the mould.

“Had we screened it, we may have gotten audiences we don’t normally get but I still don’t think our regular patrons would want to see it.

Roseville cinemas has been operated by the same family for half a century.

“We’re also a small cinema and only have two screens and it’s very difficult to fit our product in so we have to be selective.”

It comes amid a tough stretch for cinemas across the nation.

In February a major cinema chain in regional Australia went into voluntary administration after a horror 12 months.

Majestic Cinemas operates nine cinemas in regional NSW and Queensland. Locations include Nambour, Port Macquarie, Inverell, Nambucca, Wynnum, Kempsey, Singleton, Sawtell and Nelson Bay.

Last year Roseville cinemas made headlines for refusing to show the box office smash Barbie.

Majestic Cinemas founder and CEO Kieren Dell told news.com.au there had been four years of pressure due to the impacts of Covid-19, cost-of-living pressures, natural disasters such as floods and fires, and the Hollywood writers strike

“No movies were made during Covid, that proved difficult for cinemas, and just as we were getting back on our feet the Hollywood actors decided to go on strike and that again stopped movie production,” he said.

Mr Dell said they have had only 70 per cent of movie releases over the last couple of years and about 70 per cent of normal revenue.”