Movies will once again grace the big screen in Caloundra, courtesy of a young businessman with experience spanning the candy bar to management.
This will be welcome news to the community as the closure of the local favourite earlier this year caused a public outpouring. Movies had shown in the tourist town’s main street since 1931.
The person behind the revival is Luke Warburton. He has no desire to become a movie mogul, but don’t let his youthful looks fool you. The Bribie Cinema owner this year celebrated his 30th birthday and already put the runs on the board in taking a rundown picture theatre and revamping it into a much-loved community asset.
Armed with a palpable enthusiasm, he’s ready to do the same in Caloundra – on an even tighter schedule than on Bribie Island – and with plenty of welcome surprises to come, possibly even a Gold lounge offering in the future.
Luke is aiming to reopen the doors of the rebranded Strand Cinema Caloundra on Wednesday night, November 24, with the latest blockbuster from the Marvel franchise, Venom 2. At least two cinemas will operate from November 25, with two more opening the following week prior to school holidays.
The Sunshine Coast Film Festival will have the first Caloundra encore screening of I’m Your Man: a German film that is officially nominated in the foreign language category at the Oscars on Sunday, November 28, at 2pm.
The refurbishment work on the five-cinema, 500-capacity venue, which he coyly puts at “hundreds of thousands of dollars”, began on-site on October 22 with rubbish removal and electrical work. Painting started on October 28.
“Everything that’s black will be painted black again, then the painters will also do the entire top level of the building,” said Luke, as he surveyed the largest cinema, No.1, from the back stalls.
“At the moment, (the top floor) is a ‘lovely’ colour of green. We’re going for a dark colour throughout the entire building – Monument, like a dark grey.
“We wanted to open with a fresh look, so we’ve got the new logo coming, new website, all new ticketing system. It’s all happening.
“In this cinema alone, we’re doing all new lighting, all new curtains, all new surround sound, all new screens. Everything in here will be new except for the carpet and the chairs.
“In the other cinemas, all new screens, all new speakers, painting.
“Probably after Easter next year, we’ll put in the order for seats. We would have loved to have opened with new seats and new carpet but … everything comes from overseas for the industry and they’re having big issues getting shipping here within three months.”
While the Bribie Cinema refurbishment took place step by step over time, Luke is on a mission to get things moving in Caloundra.
“There’s a lot of choice out there. Not only do people have other cinema options on the Coast, but they’ve also got at-home entertainment,” he said, as tradesmen worked around the building, on the corner of Bulcock Street and Knox Avenue.
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“From the very get-go, we have to bring something new, exciting, fresh for the customers to return.”
The former Big Screen Cinemas had been closed from July 22 temporarily, due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
On September 9, the cinema Facebook page confirmed that the closure would be permanent.
“Dear customers, we have been closed for some time now and, as some of you may have guessed, we unfortunately will not be reopening our doors,” it said.
“We would like to take a moment to thank all of our customers for supporting our small family business over the last 25 years.
“It has been an absolute joy to be part of your lives. Until next time, that’s a wrap!”
The reaction from fans on social media was instant, with many lamenting the affordable family fun would no longer be available for residents and holidaymakers.
With the revamped Strand Cinema Caloundra, Luke said he was committed to creating a high-quality movie experience, with great customer service, that was value for money and would see customers return.
The popular $10 one-price-ticket-for-all would remain – less than half the price of some general admission movie tickets for latest releases elsewhere.
Luke said patrons wouldn’t need “to take out a home loan” to afford candy bar prices, either, starting with popcorn from $3.
He said the movie-going public should be excited about the movie schedule for 2022 because it was “absolutely packed”.
COVID had pushed back the release of many titles throughout 2021, creating a Christmas school holidays movie bonanza.
And that’s not all in store. Bribie Cinema has very much become part of the community and Luke intends the same for Strand Cinema Caloundra.
From early next year, the venue would look at hosting seniors’ movie morning teas, women’s movie nights, small party and corporate events, as well as continuing Murray Power’s successful international film festival offerings throughout the year.
As for creating a Gold lounge movie experience, Luke said “never say never”.
“In these sorts of cinemas, we could probably do half-recliners down the front and then regular cinema seats towards the back,” he said.
“That sort of idea has worked quite well in other areas.
“We’ll look at adding a liquor licence. That will happen I’d probably mid-next year.
“We’ve got to make different offerings to bring people back.”
A STORY STRAIGHT OUT OF HOLLYWOOD
Luke Warburton is first and foremost a movie fan and has spent most of his working life beneath the big screen.
“I worked in cinema as a teenager,” he said.
“I started from the bottom: candy bar, projection, Gold lounge and management towards the end down in Sydney for the Reading Group.
“Then I worked on the Gold Coast for a couple of years at (Reading Cinemas) Harbourtown while I also did five years in radio.”
But it wasn’t long before he made the leap to cinema owner at the age of 24.
“I guess I was in a bad place back in 2013 when I started looking for a business,” Luke said.
“I wasn’t so caught up on the cinema aspect. I just wanted a business.
“I was working in radio at the time. Wasn’t loving that, in a bit of a rut and I didn’t care what I did.
“I just took a massive gamble. I put everything on Bribie.
“And I just thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to be making this amount of money – way less than what the radio is paying – but I don’t care. I just want to at least be happy’.”
It would be another two years before he could acquire the Bribie Twin cinemas as a sole operator in 2015.
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“It was in very much the same state as Caloundra is at the moment,” Luke said.
“Pretty run down, in desperate need of some fresh blood, a bit of fresh paint and a full rebrand from top to bottom.
“Obviously down there we were able to do things over time.
“I’ve been there six years and I had the five-year plan and we pretty much got everything done within the first two years which was nuts.
“I’m a big, big supporter of ‘you’ve got to spend money to make money’. I didn’t fully believe it when I bought Bribie but then I started going ‘Oh well, what have we got to lose?’.
“And thanks to Bribie, we were able to really come in and bring the movies back to Caloundra.”
The Caloundra cinemas’ new name is a mark of respect to the building and the site on the corner of Bulcock St and Knox Ave, where the Amusu Theatre began in 1931 (before colour became popular in movies) and was renamed The Strand in 1937.
The building was demolished in February 1979 and a new shopping complex, also named The Strand, opened in October 1980 with the cinemas as the major tenant.
Luke revealed he had visited the Caloundra cinemas three years ago and saw its potential immediately.
“The first time I saw it I’m like ‘Oh, I could do this. I could do that. Why aren’t they doing this?’.
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“It has so much potential and that is why I was so adamant I was going to get in here.
“Even before I bought Bribie, I looked at that two years prior. It was just good timing.”
Luke is more than content now with the Bribie Cinema operation and taking Strand Cinema Caloundra to the next level, with no plans to create a cinema empire.
“I am not interested in getting any other cinemas,” he said.
“(Caloundra) is completely underutilised.
“It’s a challenge. I’m always looking for my next project. I’ve done as much as I can down on Bribie – it has been completely gutted a couple of times now. On to bigger things.”
And he is steadfast in the need to retain the unique character of the cinemas by remaining independent.
“You get to know your local audience. You get to know what they like, what they want to see more of but you’re also a part of the local community.
“No other big-chain operator can say that.”
Visit www.strandcinema.com.au
