New cinema owners to maintain ‘essence’
FILM lovers are optimistic their beloved State Cinema will continue to offer a unique movie-going experience under new operators.
It was revealed yesterday owner John Kelly would step down as operator of the successful North Hobart movie complex after 18 years.
Mr Kelly has handed control to Reading Cinema group and will finish at the State early next month.
He told ABC Hobart he had been given assurances by the new operators that many of the existing features would remain, such as the staff and the name. “Reading has assured me they want to maintain the fabric and essence of the cinema,” he said.
“When I first bought the State, no one went. It was old and needed a bloody good clean-up in all regards.
“I poured my heart, soul and every drop of money into it. “It’s so big now, for an individual like me to run it and accept responsibility for it, it’s quite frankly beyond me.
“This next chapter, I believe, will give the cinema a good long-term sustainable future with the backing Reading has and their commitment to quality product.”
News Corp Australia chief film writer Leigh Paatsch said the State Cinema was one of the best cinemas in Australia.
“Independent cinemas of its calibre are very rare, not just in Australia, but virtually around the world now,” he said.
“If Reading intend to run the State along an [art house American chain] Angelika Film Centre model, I don’t think there’s too much to worry about.
“However, it is something of a blow because the State is something truly unique in Australian cinema operations; the way it is run, programmed and how it seems to have an innate sense of its clientele.”
Regular State Cinema patron Kirsty Bartlett Clark, from Grasstree Hill, said it was the complex’s unique features that made it so popular, and removing the less mainstream movies would be a deal-breaker for her.
“I think it’s the atmosphere, the environment, the comfy seats and the fact it’s not a great big complex,” she said.
“It’s more intimate, and you get to see films you can’t see in the mainstream cinemas.
“If there weren’t any alternative films, there wouldn’t be any point. What makes it different is what makes it appealing to a lot of people.”
Reading Cinema group was contacted for comment.
INDEPENDENT CINEMAS OF ITS CALIBRE ARE VERY RARE, NOT JUST IN AUSTRALIA, BUT VIRTUALLY AROUND THE WORLD NOW NEWS CORP FILM WRITER LEIGH PAATSCH