After entering voluntary liquidation in June, Ballarat’s Regent Cinemas will begin a new life under Palace Cinemas next month.
Set to reopen on October 3, Palace Regent Ballarat will feature signature offerings, including olive oil popcorn, gourmet Connoisseur choc tops, and a handpicked wine selection. It will also host a variety of special events and screenings.
It comes nearly three months after previous owner Steve Anderson announced the venue – which first opened in 1928 – would cease operations immediately.
At the time, Anderson told the Ballarat Courier that “a number of factors had led to the heartbreaking decision.”
According to documents lodged with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the cinema owed almost $250,000 at the time of its closure, including $132,000 to creditors such as Universal Picture International and Sony Pictures Australia, and $116,000 to employees (The Courier)
Palace Cinemas head of marketing Alex Moir told IF that like the Ballarat community, Palace was shocked to hear of the venue’s closure but was sympathetic to the reasons why.
“We’re very understanding of the compounding pressures that independent cinemas have had to go through over the last few years,” he said.
“There has been some recent box office success, but it hasn’t been enough to overcome that compounding pressure.
“But we still saw an incredibly loyal audience within Ballarat and one we thought we could loyally serve. Also, we were of the understanding there is a big demand for a more culturally diverse range of films in the area, which we would certainly champion.”
Under Palace, the Lydiard St location will have access to a new library of foreign language films, and also serve as a location for a range of film festivals presented by Palace, starting with the British Film Festival in November.
There has already been an enthusiastic response from the local community, with one social media user thanking Palace for “saving our grand old dame”, while another commented they were “looking forward to a greater range of fine arts films”.