Cinematographic revival beneath ornate canopy

Press, 12 September 1987, Page 25

Cinematographic revival beneath ornate canopy

DAVE WILSON looks at the return of movies to an old stand:

Most movie enthusiasts quietly dream of one day running their own cinema. Nick Paris has made his dream a reality in one of Christchurch’s most spectacularly theatrical surroundings.

He has revived regular film screenings in the Theatre Royal, a place last used for movies in 1956. It might astonish the film moguls to hear a theatre manager say he is more interested in the fun rather than the profits from such a venture.

Nick Paris says that anyone opening a cinema these days must be acutely aware that a one-man-band approach is essential in keeping down costs. This means the minimum of staff. Wages on top of film hire, freight, electricity and heating and advertising quickly eat into the admission money. Or, as Mr Paris puts it, “To open a cinema you just have to love the movies, and not be in it to make a fortune.” He describes himself as an avowed film nutcase who since childhood has been captivated by the atmosphere of a cinema.

The magic of the old picture palaces led him into a career in the industry that has seen him working as a projectionist in various theatres, and a stint as theatre manager at Westport. He says the Theatre Royal, saved from demolition some years ago, offers an atmosphere no modern cinema can match. The ornate plaster and woodwork perfectly evokes the atmosphere of a time when picturegoing was an experience, rather than just seeing a film. The Theatre Royal’s old projection room, situated above “the

gods,” has been refurbished. Some other elements of movie theatre history are also back at work. The theatre’s projectors came from the now-defunct Harbour Lights cinema at Lyttelton. The screen travelled over from Westport. Mr Paris says he is not competing for business with the major Christchurch cinemas and is happy to provide a diet of reruns and old favourites. “This is not a full time operation. I will be screening at weekends, matinees and times when the theatre has no live engagements. The beauty is that I am not committed to screening every night. It is virtually at my whim.”

He says that while audiences are more discerning about what they will pay to see, independent theatre exhibitors should not be frightened off because a film they screen is also available on home video.

“There are many people, particularly the enthusiasts, who want to see a movie in its proper environment, and on the big screen.” The film diet planned by Nick Paris includes popular science fiction releases and classics such as “Gone With The Wind.”

“A broad spectrum of films, but we won’t sink to the level of films like ‘Rambo’.” At another cinema in central Christchurch, Fred Read is both the management and staff. He sells the tickets, mans the sweets stall, operates the projectors and

sweeps the floor after each screening. He says strict cost controls like these are essential if a little independent cinema is to survive in the 1980 s. Mr Read has more than 20 years experience in running cinemas. He has seen the industry face death on more than one occasion.

His answer is to have purposebuilt theatres designed to be operated by one person. The 98seat Downtown in Christchurch opened in April last year and is a design duplicate of his other theatre, at Rangiora. Mr Read says the survival threat to small cinemas is particularly acute in rural areas. First television, then home video and now a drop in rural spending have seen rural audiences shrink below the profit line.

‘ Five years ago, Fred Read shifted his Rangiora theatre from a 550-seat building to an 84-seat mini-theatre. He priced his admissions to be cheaper than video hires, and says the business was picking up when the rural downturn struck the district.

“Now families there do not have the money and the audience numbers are dwindling.” One contingency plan for survival includes cutting back on sessions to one a week or once a month.

He says a major part of the problem is the way major cinema chains refuse to relinquish big films until their earnings power is exhausted. “We just

can’t get the big films until the chains have milked them dry, and by then it’s too late.

“Take ‘Crocodile Dundee’ for example. I can’t screen that at Rangiora until halfway through September. The chains know Rangiora people won’t wait that long but will come into Christchurch and see it there.” Audience tastes can also dictate whether a cinema lives or dies. Mr Read says when he opened the Downtown in April last year, it screened general certificate films but did no business.

Three months later he changed the programme to a diet of RlB adult titles and found steady business. It was a mirror of the survival steps taken by the independent Classic cinema in Auckland. Both screen explicit films considered too hot to handle by the two big cinema chains.

“There will always be an audience for this sort of material, and in spite of what people might think about who comes to a cinema like this, the audience is a typical cross-section of the community. They are ordinary people, including many couples.

“I won’t screen the nasty type of adult film. They have to be something a husband and wife could see together.” Fred Read makes the point that it is easier for the manager of an adult cinema to supervise who can see the films than is the case with the almost-uncontrol-lable home video market featuring the same material. “We strictly enforce the RlB restriction. Nobody could walk in here thinking they were going to see a Bugs Bunny film."