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Repairs, redecoration and painting
took place in 1949 and new Gaumont
Kalee 19 projectors were installed.
May 1951 saw Friday 5pm
‘shoppers sessions’ introduced. These
were extended to Saturdays in mid
1954.
CinemaScope made its debut on 6
May 1955 with the Warner Bros. film A
Star Is Born starring Judy Garland and
James Mason.
Seating was reduced to 1,845 in
1957, and on 14 March 1958 Kerridge-
Odeon introduced 11am Friday
sessions, which would run for eight
months.
In 1968 the seating was further
reduced to 1,819. Changing social
patterns and the drop in attendances
saw the weekly 2.00pm session
replaced by one at 5.15pm in May
1970.
In 1973 - the same year the
International Film Festival began
playing the Regent - Kerridge-Odeon
announced that the theatre was up for
sale. Malcolm Latham who worked for
the Dunedin council suggested that the
council should buy the theatre as a civic
venue. They did, and later that year the
theatre was turned over to the Otago
Theatre Trust to become Dunedin’s
live-show venue, replacing the old His
Majesty’s Theatre. The Regent closed
as a public cinema on 15 April 1974.
With grants and extensive
community fund raising, enough money
was raised for repairs and restoration.
As an ‘all-purpose’ venue the theatre
was much in demand for use by the
local community, overseas shows and
the yearly film festival - which would
move to another venue in 1984.
By the early 1990s the theatre
urgently needed major repairs, and
replacement of fittings and equipment.
In July 1995 the International Film
Festival (now under new management)
returned to the theatre. The film festival
organisers donated $NZ 50,000 to the
Otago Civic Trust to assist with new
seating and equipment,
That same month a new
Simplex/Strong 35mm projection plant
was installed. Both projectors used
xenon 4500 lamps, and - unique for this
day and age - both have 2000-foot (610
From the top: The crossover from street foyer to the balcony. Patrons look down into
metre) spools instead of a platter
the stalls while walking to stairs at each side. The walkway as seen from the stalls.
system.
From the balcony, a glimpse of the central dome and the way its ‘tiara’ of lesser domes
meet the pendentive. (This image - Brian Pearson)

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