CINEMA READY FOR NEW ERA AFTER RESCUE
A CINEMA in Kidderminster which was saved from closure after a public campaign is to reopen next month with a new look.
Formerly known as Reel Cinema, it is now called Lume Cinema and remains in its historic building in Green Street.
Its owners, the Reel chain, caused shock last March when it announced it was closing the Kidderminster venue as part of its cuts during the Covid pandemic.
But local film fans in the Midlands rallied round and started a campaign and fundraising appeal to try and stop the movie house from being lost for good. A Crowdfunder page was set up by film fans James Anderson Brown, founder of The Mockingbird Cinema in Birmingham, and Anthony Hughes and Eddy Morton, founders of Stourbridge Community Development Trust.
That has now raised enough money for the transformation of the four-screen cinema. Donors were offered rewards such as tickets, wine, snacks and private champagne screenings in exchange for their donations.
As well as showing the big blockbusters - including the new Bond film at the end of September - Lume will also offer independent and smaller budget films. There will also be themed events, such as Grease and Dirty Dancing singalong screenings for fans of the musicals.
Co-founder James Anderson Brown said although Covid delayed them massively, it gave them a chance to “not rush it” and meant they could make the new cinema “as good as we wanted it to be”.
Mr Brown said: “Cinema has been a part of the town since the turn of the 20th Century, it has always been a way to bring people together - people really need that escape now, more than ever.”
Lume will be run by a community development trust and will also have a downstairs cafe and arts space.
It will reopen on September 17.