Cinema operators Calum Macleod and Andrea Riley want to open a new Paradiso complex in Wanaka's soon-to-be-vacated Catholic church in Brownston St.
The parish is to move to a new church - nearing completion in Aubrey Rd - in time for Easter.
Title for the Brownston St property is scheduled to be exchanged with its Australian owners, next month.
Varina Property Ltd, a company directed by Robert Duffy Krook, of Neutral Bay, Australia, has applied for resource consent to relocate the cinema operation to the church and make "minor external changes" to the property.
Mr Mcleod said the proposed new movie theatre, tentatively titled the Paradiso Phoenix, will be a 3-D cinema employing state-of-the-art digital projection systems.
Mr Mcleod and Ms Riley intend to keep operating the existing Cinema Paradiso, as the lease on the commercial building they occupy has about 18 months to run.
A proposal by the pair to build a new Cinema Paradiso and associated backpackers complex on the State Highway 6 turn-off on the outskirts of Wanaka was denied resource consent by the Queenstown Lakes District Council in May 2007.
The unsuccessful bid to keep their cinema vision ongoing cost the pair a significant amount of money and the experience has made them wary of the resource consent process, as they get ready to try again.
Mr Macleod said he was optimistic their new proposal would meet requirements.
He had already sourced about $500,000 worth of cinema projection equipment, which was awaiting transportation at a warehouse in Australia, and the building plans for the new cinema were drawn up.
The new proposal would construct a soundproof shell inside the existing church building and allow the seating about 80 patrons - about the same as the existing Paradiso.
The planning consultants have asked for council regulatory authority Lakes Environmental to process the resource consent application on a non-notified basis, which would not involve a public hearing.
The cinema proposal is classified under the council's district plan as a non-complying discretionary activity on a site zoned low-density residential.
Mr Macleod said five out of six immediate neighbours adjoining the church site had given their approval for the proposed cinema.
