The little cinema that could and its “big ideas” owner have put in quite an award-winning business performance, accomplishing what was almost unthinkable a year ago.
Now the Strand Cinema Caloundra is a star attraction on the Sunshine Coast entertainment scene and once again a value-for-money favourite among the movie-loving public.
As it prepares to hit another major milestone – the first anniversary of its reopening, there’s still plenty more surprises to come for a new era of patrons.
When the temporary closure of the former much-loved Big Screen Cinemas became permanent on September 9 last year, Bribie Cinema owner Luke Warburton saw a huge opportunity.
At the time, the independent sole operator was yet to celebrate his 30th birthday.
But he saw the potential of the rundown cinema complex on the corner of Bulcock Street and Knox Avenue.
With the energy and enthusiasm of youth to burn, Luke took over ownership and set about refurbishment work on the five-cinema, 500-capacity venue on October 22.
After a frenzied month of painting, rubbish removal and electrical work, the doors swung open on the revitalised, rebranded Strand Cinema Caloundra on November 24 last year with a special screening of Marvel blockbuster Venom 2.
“It’s nearly a year. It’s been crazy,” Luke told Sunshine Coast News.
“We’re definitely doing a lot better than what we predicted.
“People flowed back from night one. Business returned quickly.
“Then by June/July, it was pretty much back to pre-COVID levels. Selling out every session of every day of the school holidays is just nuts.”
The first six months of taking over became a bit of a blur as the very hands-on owner adjusted to life not only running two cinema operations but also organising and overseeing refurbishments of both.
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Healthy ticket sales meant the timeline could be brought forward on many pieces of the Caloundra renewal puzzle.
“Looking back on what we’ve been able to accomplish in less than a year, it’s pretty much what we planned to do over three,” Luke said.
“We’ve refurbished cinemas 2, 3, 4 and 5 – all new seats, screens, sound, projection.
“We’ve got some recliners down the front in cinemas 2, 3 and 5.
“I been orchestrating the purchase, organisation and installation of the seats, the carpets, the extra electrical work. We’ve refurbished the foyer. We’ve done some more painting.
“It’s go, go, go. Lots of money is being spent.
“The building blocks were there. We just had to put it all together.
“But there’s still lots more to be done.”
Luke points to the flagship Cinema 1 as the focus for next year.
The cinema will be gutted, with the installation of new “stadium” seating for optimal “line of sight” to the screen.
The new screen already has been installed but patrons are yet to experience the wall-to-wall offering.
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Timing of some of the to-do list, however, is out of Luke’s hands.
“We’ve still got to move the candy bar, we’ve still got to get the liquor licence and we’ve still got to introduce the ‘lite menu’ – we’re looking at doing pizzas, spring rolls, burgers.
“That’s all still in the pipeline. We’re being affected by the trade shortage.
“All that was meant to happen early this year.
“The candy bar was meant to be the first thing that we did. But we just can’t get the trade and we can’t get materials.
“We need 25m worth of cabinetry. People are waiting eight months for a kitchen at the moment.
“It’s just a matter of being patient.”
Luke said everything had been achieved despite “tickets being half the price of any competition and the best value candy bar on the Coast”.
“Especially now with the cost of living, people are looking for better-value entertainment options,” he said.
“Sure, they’ve got the streaming but we’re social people. We want to get out, we want to do different things during the day and during the holidays.
“Word got around each school term. Obviously, parents were talking: ‘Hey, did you hear the cinema in Caloundra is back open?’
“We noticed the Christmas holiday were great, the Easter holidays were busy and then we just got obliterated during the June and July holidays.
“But it also comes down to the product as well. There’s only so much we can do. We need the movies to really deliver for us and during that period they definitely were: Top Gun Maverick, Elvis, Minions, Jurassic, Thor.”
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Murray Power’s international film festival offerings throughout the year also have been a consistent major drawcard, bringing patrons from as far as Noosa and Brisbane to Caloundra and garnering the biggest audiences in the country for some of those foreign language films.
“Even though we now screen across the Coast, it’s been fantastic having the Caloundra cinemas re-open,” Murray said, after a highly successful 2nd annual Sunshine Coast Film Festival.
“Working with new owner Luke Warburton has been a joy and watching him re-invest so heavily into the cinemas with new everything basically shows a commitment to movie-goers here and around the region to have the best on our doorstep.
“We’re looking forward to launching a new festival, the Better World Film and Design Festival in March 2023 at Strand Cinema Caloundra and continuing our work with the French and other festivals into the future right there.”
Like any fan, Luke is excited about the next extraordinary big-screen blockbuster.
Avatar: The Way of Water releases on December 15 and will be screen in both 2D and 3D in Strand Cinema Caloundra’s Cinema 1.
