Derelict cinema back in motion as a pop-up picture house
A BIRMINGHAM cinema has remarkably reopened 40 years after screening its last movie.
After the final show in 1980, the Kingsway Cinema in Kings Heath was converted into a Gala bingo hall – only to be destroyed by fire in September 2011.
Now the site is screening movies again three times a day, with social distancing and sanitiser on hand. Local music promoter Eddie O’Callaghan and Dan Kearns from Stourbridge pop-up specialists Friendly Neighbourhood Cinema have worked a movie miracle. The new Kingsway will be screening films for the next two months at least, from family favourites like Monsters Inc and the original Mary Poppins to adult hits including Fight Club, Pulp Fiction and Joker.
All that is left of the original Kingsway Cinema is the listed original frontage, and that is going to be repurposed over the next two weeks.
Most of the area’s unsightly graffiti has already been removed and the windows will be replaced too. The main entrance to the cinema will be through an original doorway and hallway of the remaining edifice.
But as you walk towards the back door, you find yourself at the top of a gravel slope with a sweeping view down towards the cinema. Promoter Mr O’Callaghan says: “The remains of the building have given us a flat space so we’ve just decided to put a cover up, keep it nice and dry, and put on films for the next couple of months at least.
“We’re really excited about getting it finished and looking like a nice refreshed building. We are trying to do everything with the beauty of the building in mind to recreate the illusion of a 1950s to 60s cinema.
“All screenings after 9pm will have sound through headphones only. During the day or early evening you can use headphones too. “We had a screening the other day and people with them on didn’t even realise it was raining! They had just lost themselves in the movie.”