It’s been a year in the making but Caloundra residents and visitors can now experience something the town has never seen before.
After “years and years”, the Strand Cinema Caloundra has had a major makeover, with owner Luke Warburton revealing cinema one has been revamped into a platinum offering.
The upgrades to the cinema include new leather recliners with tray tables and new carpets.
Alcoholic drinks will also soon be available.
“We wanted to convert our main cinema to a full recliner cinema, so every one of the 50 seats is a now a full electric leather recliner,” he said.
“It’s really our premium offering.
“It’s been a lot of work in the making to finally come together, from getting the plans drawn up and the seats individually manufactured for the space, to the fit-out.
“It’s very exciting. Caloundra has never seen this before.”
He said the upgrades were just the finishing touches to cinema one’s steady transformation over the past year.
“It feels great to present Caloundra with the new Strand Platinum Cinema,” he said.
“When we came in, we replaced cinema one’s screen and put in a big laser projector and made it larger.
“The screen is just beautiful … every viewing angle in that cinema should just be great now.
“We also replaced everything in that cinema except for the seats and carpet.”
After months of waiting, he said they had just obtained a liquor licence for the cinema, which would make it feel like a gold-class experience.
“We haven’t implemented that just yet because we still need to do a few more things on our end before we’re ready to go,” he said.
“The staff have to get their RSAs and everything needs to be in place first. But we’ll have beer and wine on offer in the next few weeks.
“Eventually we will be moving the candy bar and renovating that and then offering hot food options as well.”
The new cinema comes after the gradual upgrades to the four other standard cinemas over the 18 months Mr Warburton has owned the business.
The refurbishments included new curtains, carpet, seats, lights and signage as well as sound quality improvements.
“When we took over, we began putting new projection, new sound and new screens,” he said.
“Pretty much from then on, we’ve been moving from cinema to cinema refurbishing each room as we go, and as we can afford it.”
The owner of Bribie Cinema explained how upgrading both cinemas was a priority to provide patrons with quality viewing and value for money.
“I’ve owned Bribie Cinema since 2015 and every year I would do something to improve the experience, things like splashing some paint around or replacing seats or replacing sound amplifies or projectors,” he said.
“We just replaced the candy bar down there a few weeks ago.
“At the end of the day you’re not having to take out a mortgage to go to the movies.
“We’re a fair price … our candy bar is extremely good value as well.”
The Strand Platinum Cinema officially opened last Friday night, with the first session quickly selling out.
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