The 1938 building in Marriner St has been completely renovated and is planned to open as the Silky Otter Hollywood on Saturday, June 28.
The opening date is dependent on receiving Christchurch City Council consent.
“It’s great to finally get these things open, there’s been a lot of build-up trying to get this cinema open,” said Silky Otter founder Neil Lambert.
“We’ve already got a really well-established and loved (cinema) in Christchurch. We wanted to make sure that this had that feel to it as well.”
The first movie to screen will be F1, which stars Brad Pitt as a Formula 1 driver who comes out of retirement.
“It’s a classic Hollywood blockbuster. It has to be seen in a theatre, it can’t be watched anywhere else,” said Lambert.
Lambert says once the city council gives the green light, “we will be pretty much ready to go”.
The recliner seats were installed last week, with Lambert now waiting on projectors and kitchen equipment.
The building will house three 48-seater luxury cinemas and a bar.
“It’ll be unrecognisable when customers walk inside, I think everybody will be pleased with the results,” he said.
It was formerly home to Hollywood Cinemas, the oldest movie theatre in Christchurch, owned by cinema pioneer Lang Masters for more than six decades. Masters died, aged 92, in August 2023.
To pay homage, the new cinema will be renamed Silky Otter Hollywood.
“It’s an institution in so we kind of wanted to keep it that way,” Lambert said.
The cinema will not host any major events for the opening, rather Lambert prioritised getting doors open as soon as possible.
“They (cinemas) are almost looked upon as community centres, strangely enough, so for me, the joy of opening cinemas is to really just get the public in.”
Sumner will be Silky Otter’s eighth cinema in New Zealand. The first was built in Auckland in 2019 as a way to re-imagine the cinematic experience.
“A lot of the older picture houses were kind of falling away and not really keeping up with the times.
“It’s a hospitality experience in a night out, that’s what we’re bringing to Sumner and it fits well into the community,” Lambert said.
