Regent Theatre (Te Awamutu)
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Address:
235 Alexandra St, Te Awamutu, 3800 Contact Person: Paige Larianova Phone: 07 871 5288 Email: info@theregent.nz Facebook: www.facebook.com/.RegentTeAwamutu Website: www.teawamutu.co.nz/regent/ |
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Details
Capacity: 18 + 38 + 60 + 88 (3D) + 134
Screen: Five screens, all richly decorated
Sound: State-of-the-art digital
Seating: Mainly tip-up seating + lounge seats in the smaller screens
Snackbar: Snack bar, with good selection of sweet treats
Accessibility: Good access from street level. Stairs to larger screens.
Capacity: 18 + 38 + 60 + 88 (3D) + 134
Screen: Five screens, all richly decorated
Sound: State-of-the-art digital
Seating: Mainly tip-up seating + lounge seats in the smaller screens
Snackbar: Snack bar, with good selection of sweet treats
Accessibility: Good access from street level. Stairs to larger screens.
Geoff's Review
This cinema, situated in the main street of the attractive South Waikato town of Te Awamutu ('Rose Town'), offers something special. In March 2022, it celebrated its 90th birthday, opening on 10 March 1932 with Daddy Long Legs.
The long-time proprietor Allan Webb, due to retire in 2022, has devoted his life to creating a living museum of cinema-going at the Regent, incorporating salvaged or rescued items (seats, lights, decorations, plinths) from cinemas long gone. You buy your tickets from an old box office which dates from the early 1900s.
It is really quite a magical place. But it is more than a museum for it offers a full and varied daily programme of recent releases (mainstream and art house titles), in an environment which is very much what 'going to the pictures' used to be like.
At least once in your life, you need to catch a film at the Regent Te Awamutu. Allan had certain expectations of his patrons (no jandals, no singlets, no cell phones) but he also wants to make the experience of watching a film in a proper cinema one to be treasured. If you happened to strike up a conversation with Allan, you would find that he has a deep and rare knowledge of New Zealand cinemas (and has published a monumental history of them).
After the film, take a stroll down Alexandra Street and check out the Central Cafe, with its collection of Americana.
See this September 2020 article from the
Waikato Times: https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/122594487/covid19-delivers-small-town-cinemas-hardest-scene-yet?cid=app-iPad
Following Allan's retirement in 2022, the Regent was gifted to the town, with its future has been handed to the Allan Webb Theatre Trust, with the appointment of Paige Larianova (a well-known Waikato film activist) as Manager.
This cinema, situated in the main street of the attractive South Waikato town of Te Awamutu ('Rose Town'), offers something special. In March 2022, it celebrated its 90th birthday, opening on 10 March 1932 with Daddy Long Legs.
The long-time proprietor Allan Webb, due to retire in 2022, has devoted his life to creating a living museum of cinema-going at the Regent, incorporating salvaged or rescued items (seats, lights, decorations, plinths) from cinemas long gone. You buy your tickets from an old box office which dates from the early 1900s.
It is really quite a magical place. But it is more than a museum for it offers a full and varied daily programme of recent releases (mainstream and art house titles), in an environment which is very much what 'going to the pictures' used to be like.
At least once in your life, you need to catch a film at the Regent Te Awamutu. Allan had certain expectations of his patrons (no jandals, no singlets, no cell phones) but he also wants to make the experience of watching a film in a proper cinema one to be treasured. If you happened to strike up a conversation with Allan, you would find that he has a deep and rare knowledge of New Zealand cinemas (and has published a monumental history of them).
After the film, take a stroll down Alexandra Street and check out the Central Cafe, with its collection of Americana.
See this September 2020 article from the
Waikato Times: https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/122594487/covid19-delivers-small-town-cinemas-hardest-scene-yet?cid=app-iPad
Following Allan's retirement in 2022, the Regent was gifted to the town, with its future has been handed to the Allan Webb Theatre Trust, with the appointment of Paige Larianova (a well-known Waikato film activist) as Manager.