Taupō's only movie theatre is shutting at the end of the month and the operators have yet to secure a viable alternative venue. 

Starlight Cinema’s closure has as much to do with a series of unfortunate events and bad timing as financial viability. 

The building which houses the theatre and five retail shops, comes up well short of modern earthquake standards and is set to be demolished, as early as next month. 

Previous cinema owner Peter Smith had plans for a brand new purpose-built theatre building in Taupō, but then Covid-19 struck and put a halt to proceedings. 

In the meantime, with plans for a new theatre in place, landlord Glynn Pointon purchased the building to knock it down and replace it with three shops at ground level and six subterranean shops accessible from a fully enclosed Starlight Arcade.  

In May 2022, with plans for a new theatre building shelved, Smith - who had run the cinema for 43 years - sold it to local couple Tammy and Charlie Prince. Charlie said they were fully aware at the time that the lease on the building would be short-lived. 

“So it was coming down either way. We were only guaranteed 12 months in here so we got lucky and got an extra nine months. I didn’t pay a lot for the business. I basically bought the equipment and the stock.” 

The building that houses Starlight Cinema in Taupō is old, not up to modern earthquake standards and is set to be demolished. Photo / Dan Hutchinson 

A new, purpose-built cinema would be prohibitively expensive for the new owners, so they have been searching for a suitable alternative building ever since they took over. 

The issue is that there are not many buildings in town with six-metre-high ceilings - the minimum required for a new theatre. 

Charlie said they were in discussions over a couple of sites but it would come down to the cost of re-fitting an existing building and raising the roof. 

He said a new cinema did not need to be as large as the complex they had now, which had 600 seats spread across six theatres - the biggest has 188 seats. 

The biggest theatre has never sold out in the time he has been there although they had 180 in there on December 29, last year. 

Instead, they would be looking at about 200 seats in total for a new complex, with up to five theatres ranging in size from 20 to 60 seats. 

“If we have a blockbuster we just have three going at one time.” 

Pointon said the demolition of the building was “tentatively” scheduled for March this year. 

He said the earthquake rating on the building meant it couldn’t be refurbished. 

In addition to the three new retail shops on the Horomatangi St side of the building, Pointon said the biggest change would be in the arcade that links Horomatangi St with Suncourt Plaza on Tamamutu St. 

“We’re closing the arcade and making it a proper arcade rather than a walkway. 

“As you walk up the arcade there will be six little shops underground, you’ll look down into an atrium below ground.” 

Pointon said losing the cinema was not an easy decision, but due to a range of factors, it was not practical to replace it. 

The plans were still in development and subject to resource consent from the council. 

Charlie said the last movie screenings would be on February 29, which just happened to be the day that Dune 2 was released. They would be having seven screenings of the movie on that day and tickets were already selling fast. 

Once the cinema was shut, they would be selling off the seats and any other paraphernalia that people wanted to buy, including posters, speakers and even the old 35mm projectors which were replaced by digital equipment 12 years ago. That sale would probably be on March 3. 

The sign outside Starlight Cinema is a familiar sight for Taupō movie goers. Photo / Dan Hutchinson 

Any new cinema would include new seats and screens because they were old and due for replacement anyway and the projectors would also need to be upgraded soon. 

He said there was a whole room full of stuff that he hadn’t even explored yet so there could be all sorts of old movie treasures for sale. 

They were confident they could get a new cinema up and running. 

“There’s 40,000 people here. You need to have a cinema. School holidays is the big time because if it’s raining what else are you going to do? Go to The Landing [entertainment complex] or come here. 

“People need something to do sometimes, go on a date night, see a movie. It’s the only time you can see a new one.” 

He said a new cinema would need to be in or around the fringes of the CBD so there was enough parking but could not believe how long it had taken to find a suitable building. 

-Dan Hutchinson and Milly Fullick, Taupo & Turangi Herald