Page 5 - CinemaRecord #83

NEW SOUTH WALES
• Thirroul:
Anita’s Theatre (formerly the Kings Theatre)
has been sold. The new owners intend to
refurbish the theatre to provide a venue for
bands, comedians, dancers and plays. The 1000
seat venue will also screen classic films.
Illawarra Mercury 3 July 2014 ►

QUEENSLAND • Melbourne: ►
• Goondiwindi: Victorian Government Planning Minister,
A decision to close the cinema on the 27 July to Matthew Guy, has blocked the proposed
allow renovations to start on the 16 August was demolition of Melbourne’s former Palace
recently announced. The cinema will be closed Theatre (Metro Bourke St.). The proposal was
to demolish it and build a multi story luxury
for approximately seven months. It is expected
to reopen in March 2015 as a fully renovated hotel on the site. In recent years, it has been used
cinema complex. ► as a live music venue.
A grass roots campaign to save the site has
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
continued despite the venue closing in May. The
• Port Augusta: developers have declared they will fight the
Cinema Augusta owners, Michelle and Roger changes ‘tooth and nail’.
Coles, have received confirmation that their new The Age 28 June 2014.
lease arrangement with the council has been
approved. There are still a few formalities to be WESTERN AUSTRALIA
finalised before celebrations can take place. ► • Fremantle:
Hoyts has decided to exit the Queensgate
• Adelaide: complex in Fremantle based on impending
The Regent Arcade owners have applied for a redevelopment of the site. Hoyts will consolidate
grant from the Adelaide City Council their operations at their nearby Millennium
'innovation fund' to help overhaul the long complex.
closed twin cinemas into four boutique-size gold
class theatres for mainstream films. • Perth:
Perth pedestrians have been able to pass through
the past as they walk along busy Hay Street Mall
• Prospect:
Plans have been submitted to the Prospect with a rare glimpse of the old Ambassadors
Council for a $18 million art-deco cinema Theatre.
complex on the corner of Prospect Rd. and Rose
St. Palace Cinemas would manage the cinema. The developers of a refurbished retail complex
have installed large photographic panels of what
the site looked like back in the 1960s and 1970s.
VICTORIA
• Carlton: ► The Ambassadors, a grand theatre in a
The former Carlton Moviehouse is again Florentine ‘atmospheric’ style, opened in 1928
available for lease. A proposal to convert it into and stood proudly in Hay Street until falling to
a restaurant some time back, appears to have the wreckers in 1972. It was replaced by the St
failed. A pop-up store is currently operating Martin’s commercial development which
from the premises. included new twin cinemas Hoyts 2 & 3.

• Freeburgh: ► The twin cinemas, too, passed their use-by date
In recent years regular screenings were and in more recent times the site has been
attempted in the old, wooden Freeburgh Hall occupied by Lincraft and Borders Books (now
in Northeastern Victoria. The hall was also relegated to history). ►
demolished following a fire on 30 April this
year. A new community hall is being built
nearby, but it is not known whether it is to be
equipped to show movies.
• Chadstone: ►
Hoyts closed their Chadstone Cinemas 16
screen complex at the Chadstone Shopping
Centre in Victoria on Tuesday the 10 of June.
Chadstone was the first multiplex cinema to
open in Australia. opening on 13 December
1986. The building is being redeveloped by
Colonial and is scheduled to reopen bigger and
better late in 2016. Contributions: Royce Harris, Peter Jackson, Steve
Maggs, Gerry Kennedy, Colin Flint and others.

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