Regent Cinema: Perfect one day, closed the next

Brissy is slowly coming to terms with the impending semi-closure of its grand lady of cinema, the historic Regent complex, as a functioning cinema as new tenants including the Pacific Film and Television Corporation, the Brisbane International Film Festival and the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Birch Carroll and Coyle currently screen movies at the cinema under a sub-lease from the Hoyts Corporation.

Under the proposed arrangements the films would be screened by its new tenants between Friday afternoons and Sunday nights, while during the week it becomes a “multi-function auditoria” for seminars and presentations for the film and television industry.

The State Government called in the $800 million development put forward by developers Brookfield Multiplex mid last year, announcing plans for one 300-seat cinema, plus two 60-seat cinemas in September. Original plans for a 38 story building have been modified to 40 stories, going before Brisbane City Council for approval tomorrow.

Members of the Save the Regent lobby group are angry that the cinema, built in 1928, is not being turned into a live venue.

Developers say only those parts of the Regent Theatre already heritage-listed are worth keeping. Some opponents have likened the redevelopment as “effectively turn the Regent Theatre into the back entrance of a new office building.”

It was last September that Premier Anna Bligh announced, “People will be able to go to see a movie on weekends and public holidays, during the week it will be a vibrant artistic centre.”

“The exact nature of what films will be shown there will be up to them really,” a spokesman said today.

“But it is going to be regular screenings of films from around the world in a sophisticated facility.”

The Pacific Film and Television Corporation has been going through prickly times with a disillusioned local industry, leading in part to the resignation of several key management including CEO Robin James.

Source: Brisbane Times