Havelock North movie theatre saved by Focal Point after Event Cinemas draws the curtain

Event Cinemas is pulling out of Havelock North, with Focal Point stepping in to keep it open. Photo / Jack Riddell

Independent Hawke’s Bay cinemas operator Focal Point has come to the rescue of Havelock North moviegoers worried the big nights out were coming to an end with the withdrawal of Event Cinemas from the village.

Event Cinemas confirmed in a short statement to Hawke’s Bay Today that its tenancy at Havelock North will cease and it will stop trading late-January 2025, but that it was “working closely with the landlord, who may have secured a new operator to continue running the cinema location”.

The new arrangement has now been announced by landlord Lowmac Properties, which developed the shopping centre and twin-theatre cinema complex 21 years ago, and Matt Bell, who with wife Julie established their first cinema in Feilding in 2007.

The shopping centre and movie theatre complex in Havelock North shortly before theatre opening time in 2003. Photo / NZME

In 2012 they expanded to Hawke’s Bay, reopening a theatre which been closed by Reading Cinemas, named it Cinemas Hastings, but after refurbishment and arrival of the latest movie technology it was relaunched as Focal Point in 2014.

Bell said there had been a real prospect the Havelock North cinema would close but an agreement has been made in discussions that started only early last month.

Focal Point had plans to expand at some stage, but as with many businesses in the entertainment and hospitality industry, had to get over the troubles of the last five years.

The Havelock North option was a good opportunity, he said, adding Focal Point was looking forward to providing cinema for the village after a short “10 days to a fortnight” gap between the changeover.

An Event Cinemas spokesperson said: “EVT has been proud to operate Event Cinemas Havelock North over the years and would like to thank the many customers who have visited us to enjoy the experience of movies on the big screen.”

The Havelock North theatres opened under the Cinema Gold brand at the end of 2003, as part of a then-new seven-shop Lowmac Properties development on the site of a former garden centre, and are currently in full pre-Christmas swing with Moana 2, Wicked: Part 1, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, and Gladiator II among the showings this week, and Mufasa: The Lion King on the schedule next week.

Kath Arcus, a regular since day one, was “devastated” to hear of a possible closure, and rapt to hear that won’t be the case.

“I, like many of my friends, love the cinema,” she said. “It would have been very sad to lose our cinema.

“We particularly love the Italian, French and architectural film festivals,” she added. “The ambience of the small theatres and the easy accessibility for the mature population are both very appealing.”