After a fire destroyed the central Otago town of Roxburgh’s historic cinema and town hall earlier this year, locals are embracing an outdoor sequel to screenings as plans for a new venue take shape.
The cinema, which is the longest continuously running movie theatre in the Southern Hemisphere, was ravaged by fire on Waitangi Day, leaving little more than the façade of the building standing.
The cinema opened on December 11, 1897 and could seat 258 people.
Now, to keep the Guinness World Record record going, films will need to be screened either in another building nearby or somewhere on the original site.
While the lot has been cleared and the façade has been demolished, there’s still some work to do on the Scotland St site.
So, the volunteer cinema committee is taking the pictures outdoors, for the first time since the fire, to the nearby rugby grounds.
Roxburgh Cinema Committee chairman Curtis Crawford told 1News locals were getting behind the project and chipping in whatever they could.
“Even our projection guy, he’s got companies all around the island that were ringing them up and saying, ‘You know what gear we’ve got lying around. If there’s anything you can make use of, let us know’.”
Kicking off the outdoor premiere was a 1News story, part of the Small Town series tour, chronicling the history of Roxburgh and cinema.
It was followed by Tinā, one of the year’s highest-grossing New Zealand films.
Attendees said it was great to see the movies come back to Roxburgh.
“I’d love to see it keep going for a long time,” one woman said.
Crawford said the committee would keep showing movies all around the Teviot Valley.
“We’re going to do some on-site to keep our Guinness World Record status going.”
Around $6 million has been secured from insurance, with the question now when a permanent venue will make a return.
Central Otago mayor Tamah Alley said a stakeholder group would be established “to see that space thrive and making sure that if we were to build a cinema, that there’s going to be the enthusiasm from our community to help run it like before”.
