After more than three decades, BCC Cinemas in Coffs Harbour is set to close this month.
Event Cinemas loyalty members were informed of the news via email late on Tuesday.
No reasons have been provided by Event Cinemas for the closure, however staff were told the lease ended in November last year and has not been renewed.
“So sad”: A cinema worker, who did not want to be named, told the Mid North Coaster staff were informed of the closure last week, with around 25 employees set to lose their jobs.
Cinemagoer Tamily Harling said she was "devastated" by the news.
“I love going to the cinema, it’s my favourite place,” she said.
Image credit: Alison Paul.
Is cinema dead? According to Screen Australia, cinema numbers across the country have fallen by 36 percent over the last 45 years.
Coffs Harbour’s cinema is the second in the region to close this year. The Nambucca Cinema closed on February 1 after more than four decades.
Last one left: The closest remaining cinema is at Sawtell.
However, the historic Sawtell Cinemas has faced its own battle, closing for three years in 2013 due to the cost of switching to digital.
It reopened in late 2015, after a community campaign which raised $142,000.
Back to the Future? It’s been closed for more than 24 years, but there are rumours swirling that the “Cinema Centre” - a three-screen complex on Vernon Street in the Coffs CBD - might reopen.
Image credit: Luke Redwood.
First opening in 1988, it closed in 2002. C.ex Group owns the building and Cinema Arcade after purchasing it in June 2024.
The club however remains tight-lipped about future plans for the complex.
The Big Picture: Kieren Dell, CEO of Regional Cinemas Australia, said he would be “very surprised if a city the size of Coffs Harbour doesn’t have a cinema again at some point in the future”.
The Last Picture Show: The final film screening at BCC Coffs Harbour will take place on Sunday September 13, with locals invited to give the cinema the “big screen farewell it deserves”.