Frequent Gloomy Sunday screenings now in the past

Christchurch has come to the end of a cinematic era – Gloomy Sunday will no longer be screened every night.

The Christchurch cinema owner who showed the German movie for nearly 10 years says he will no longer host regular screenings.

Rodney Cook screened the film every night at the Academy cinema in the Arts Centre until it was closed after the February 2011 earthquake.

The film was just a few months short of its 10th anniversary on Christchurch screens when the February quake hit.

Cook aims to open a threescreen cinema in The Colombo mall in Sydenham by Christmas.

He said he would not have enough screens in the new cinema to show Gloomy Sunday every night.

‘‘I think we will do the odd Sunday screening for a bit of fun,’’ he said. ‘‘We might do some screenings again, but I would love catchup.

‘‘There are so many arthouse films that didn’t come to Christchurch or were only on for a week.’’

Cook lost the Metro Gold cinema in the February 2011 quake and has been evicted from the cinemas at the quake-damaged Arts Centre.

The Canterbury quakes hit the arthouse movie scene hard, with the Rialto closing, the Regent demolished and Cook’s three cinemas out of action.

to

do some