A eulogy for a dead cinema

Why did Broadway Newmarket close its doors?

• I was in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket a few weeks ago when I noticed the doors to Event Broadway - my fave cinema - were shut. Auckland wasn’t in lockdown, and cinemas all over the city were open for business. I wanted to know why. And I didn’t like the answers .. (This story first ran on Stuff.co.nz on January 28)

The doors are locked, the windows are shut, the lights are off and an escalator is still and silent.

No smells of hot buttery popcorn waft down the stairs, and the bass thump from stereo sound systems doesn't echo off the walls.

Look past a broken door that’s been boarded up, press your nose to the glass and you’ll see a dusty and deserted foyer.

Posters for movies that will never screen stay stuck to the walls, Vin Diesel’s Bloodshot and Sonic the Hedgehog hanging like ghosts of the past.

For decades, Event Cinemas Broadway has been Auckland’s biggest and best cinema.

With its easy access, huge foyer, eight screens, great food and elegant, old-school cinema vibe, it was often the cinema of choice for publicists hosting Hollywood blockbuster movie premieres.

In the 2000s, kids would dress up as their favourite Harry Potter characters for morning weekend premieres. Riding high from her success with Whale Rider, a young Keisha Castle-Hughes attended a Star Wars charity screening there in 2005.

More recently, big and small screen local stars posed for photos at the premiere of Taika Waititi’s What We Do in the Shadows in 2014 and Jojo Rabbit in 2017. A poster promoted the Kiwi director as “visionistical”.

When Quentin Tarantino came to Auckland to showcase his film The Hateful Eight in 2016, he told TVNZ 1’s Matty McLean during a live cross from the lobby: “I’ve been wanting to come to New Zealand forever – now’s the time to do it.”

Those screenings are no more. Event Broadway has been shuttered since the middle of last year, its listing removed from Google Maps and from Event Cinemas' website.

Its final Facebook post was in June, a promotion for the terrible Keanu Reeves film Bill & Ted Face the Music.

When asked why the cinema was closed, the company called it “temporary” and blamed it on the financial stresses of Covid-19.

But a spokesperson admitted there was no date yet scheduled for its reopening.

“Event Cinemas Broadway is temporarily closed due to the impact of Covid-19. A reopening date has not yet been confirmed,” they said in a statement.

“We look forward to welcoming the community back to Event Broadway soon.”

For now, the theatre remains closed indefinitely.

But, for many, the memories remain.

When The Blair Witch Project arrived in Auckland in 1999, I parked my car in the middle of Auckland Domain, thinking it would make for a hilariously spooky walk in the dark after seeing a late-night horror film with a friend.

Afterwards, my body quivering, I gave her the keys and waited nervously under a well-lit lamppost while she fetched the car.

When the highly anticipated sequel The Matrix: Reloaded landed in cinemas in 2003, the marketing team went full noise, hiring out the entire complex.

Helicopters circled overhead, search lights scanned the sky and red carpet was rolled down Broadway for every C-list celebrity available.

Goodie bags waited for every guest in every chair in every theatre, but what I remember most is the slumped shoulders and confused looks being exchanged at the end of a very bad film, unworthy of all that fuss.

New Zealand film guru Ant Timpson remembers sneaking a trailer for the Incredibly Strange Film Festival, his hand-picked selection of films for the International Film Festival, ahead of a remastered Star Wars film.

He'd badgered a projectionist friend, and it played to packed cinemas.

When Timpson took friends there, he loved pointing out the legs of a swimmer and shimmering water motif on the roof of the foyer to visiting friends, a nod to the neighbouring Newmarket pools.'

Most people don’t know it’s there, and Timpson jokes it always “went over their heads”.

Timpson says Broadway was his favourite local theatre because it was never given the “lux” upgrade treatment like others, avoiding the installation of giant screens and stadium seating and sticking to its roots as a retro cinema.

He’s not the only one who loved that old-school vibe. Search reviews on Yelp and Google, and you’ll find people overwhelmingly raving about the place.

“Staff: helpful, friendly, smiley. Atmosphere: exciting, positive, happy. Toilets: classy, clean, great facilities. Definitely returning,” said a user named Quinny.

Matthew said it was “large and spacious – you never feel cramped”.

Cindy agreed: “Love the retro style and the comfy and spacious seats, even for my 6'6" husband.”

Its closure could be seen as a sign of the times. Covid-19 has put a wrecking ball through the film industry. Major movies, those the entire industry hang from like Bond sequel No Time to Die, have been delayed indefinitely.

Film's future isn't bright. Some companies, like Warner Bros, have shifted their entire film schedules online for home viewing overseas. Others, like Disney+, are instead switching focus away from movies and towards television shows.

Internationally, major cinema chains have closed their doors and laid off staff, saying they won’t return until the pandemic ends.

Here in New Zealand, we’re lucky. Cinemas are open, but they’re not what they used to be. For a first-day screening of Tenet, last year’s year’s biggest movie, I was the only person in Event’s Westcity cinema.

For Wonder Woman 1984 two weeks ago at Event’s Queen St cinema, there were just three of us.

Numbers are low, but there’s another factor at play.

Just a short walk down Broadway is Auckland’s newest, shiniest mega-mall, Westfield Newmarket.

Walk past its 230 shops, its boutique eateries, living green walls and rooftop bars, and you’ll find a brand new Event cinema to behold.

Event Cinemas Newmarket boasts seven new screens including a huge V-Max theatre and two boutique experiences involving cinemas with library and art gallery themes.

There, you can put your feet up on a leather stool, and at any time call a staff member to order the delivery of burgers, cocktails, craft beer or “retro lollies” right to your chair.

That Event Cinemas spokesperson had something else to say about the closure of its Broadway complex: “Newmarket cinemagoers can enjoy movies at our new Westfield Newmarket complex.”

It's true, they can, but it's not the same. You have to make your way through a mall to get there. There are no retro film fittings, or ropy carpet to enjoy. Everything smells new.

There's also no shared history. You're unlikely to see Tarantino or Timpson gracing Event Newmarket's theatres.

Maybe, though, this is progress, something a Yelp reviewer warned of way back in 2013.

“This Event cinema is my favourite because it is so quiet,” wrote a Broadway fan called Tracey.

“I often wonder if they make any money out of this cinema at all.”

Only time will tell if it ever gets the chance to make any money again.

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