Whanganui cinema is back and there is something for everyone

Owner Gary Vinnell with marketing manager Rose Dickison and assistant manager Mandy Lethaby is pleased to welcome movie fans back to the Embassy 3 Cinema. Photo / Bevan Conley

Dancing was permitted at Embassy 3 on Thursday night as movie theatres return to normal service following the Covid-19 lockdown.

Theatres had been impacted by Covid-19 restrictions but with the country now in alert level 1 they can operate at full capacity.

Embassy 3 staff were expecting a packed house for the Throwback Thursday screening of 'Footloose' although the film made its debut in 1984.

Cinema owner Gary Vinnell said the film still has a lot of pulling power and he expected the audience would following the moves of the film's star Kevin Bacon.

"It is great to have a young team of staff who know how to gauge audiences," he said.

"They are a great marketing team who have done a brilliant job of selecting movies that people want to see again and they know which ones will attract a younger audience."

Vinnell said New Zealand, like the rest of the world, was heavily dependent on the United States to release new blockbusters and they have been held back because of the Covid-19.

"The distributors have their biggest markets in the US and China and they won't release the movies until they are open.

"Now that they are opening up again we will see more new releases coming our way."

Embassy 3 is operating for three and a half days a week at the moment but Vinnell said they will soon be back to a seven-day schedule.

"We have some great kids' films lined up for the school holidays next month.

Vinnell said he spent a large part of his lockdown time installing new software at the complex and customers will soon be able to purchase tickets online.

"The other thing I want to do now that we are open again is to hold a Cans Film Festival night," he said.

"We will open all three cinemas for 5.30pm screenings and people can pay for their seats with cans of food which we can then pass on to charities for distribution because we know people will be doing it hard and it is a way that we as a business can help."

Meanwhile, Kevin Double and Melita Farley of Confluence boutique cinema in Watt St will be celebrating their return with a fundraiser for the Whanganui Regional Museum, donating 100 per cent of the ticket income to the museum.

'Hermitage' is a brand new cinematic documentary, produced in close collaboration with St Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum.

It tells of the great stories and events that have passed down the corridors of the museum and though the streets of St Petersburg from its foundation with Peter I to the splendour of Catherine the Great.

'Hermitage' screens at Confluence, 15 Watt St at 6.30pm next Thursday, June 18.

Whanganui Film Society has also resumed regular Monday Night screenings at the Davis Theatre in Watt St at 7pm.

Next Monday's offering is a 2012 Brazilian film from director Kleber Mendoça Filho.

'Neighbouring Sounds' (O som ao redor) is a drama set on a prosperous street near a poor neighbourhood in coastal Brazil which makes for compulsive viewing.