Page 22 - CR

Raising the bar
Continues...

Conveniently, the main toilets are
placed midway in the cinema “tunnel”,
roughly equidistant from all auditoria,
so there are no long treks to the toilet
during the film. The toilets, as you
might expect, feature black tiles, dark
grey granite and some ultra-modern
taps and hand dryers. Fortunately the
toilet bowls and urinals are white,
though they are very flash just the
same.
The Gold Lounge is quite different Ticket prices are slightly higher The cinema was launched with an
with the rest of the complex, the than at their biggest competitor, the extensive media campaign both by
colours, furnishings and fittings themed eight-screen Greater Union complex at Reading Cinemas and GPT, with their
to the “Gold” concept. The Lounge has Glendale, but the superior cinema own campaign for the re-launch of the
an array of different types of lounges, experience at Charlestown makes the centre. There is a lot of interest in the
chairs and stools, depending on your small price differential irrelevant. Centre and the cinema. Ben and his
mood and group. The area is staff spent a lot of time in the first few
Another even closer competitor,
surprisingly large, with a variety of weeks showing interested potential
Hoyts 6 Charlestown, which opened
spaces for guests to have a quiet drink customers through the complex.
in 1989, has been a $9.90 discount
or chat with friends before the show Customer feedback has been very
house for some years. Its future is
and also doubles as a function area for positive, with the reaction to the
uncertain. The only other cinema
groups large and small prior to a TITAN XC being the most effusive.
competitor in the area is the single
screening.
screen Lake Cinema Boolaroo, where Ben loves to be there when
owner Bob Mason successfully trades customers catch their first glimpse of
on the twin virtues of service and price the TIXAN XC — the proverbial
and presumably would be no more moment of truth as they emerge from
worried about Charlestown than he is the entry corridor — to hear the audible
by Greater Union just a few minutes gasps. And that’s before the movie even
down the road. begins!
The TITAN XC attracts a slightly
higher ticket price than the other
mainstream screens, with top Adult
price set at $17.50, versus $16.50. Gold
Lounge ticket prices are $26 off-peak
and $35 evenings and weekends.
Reading has reserved seating in their
Gold Lounge cinemas but not in the
TITAN XC or mainstream cinemas.
They have no plans to introduce the
controversial system, currently in place
at Greater Union.

The earlier

Cinemas of
Charlestown

Left: The Renown Theatre
is now a AAMI Garage.
Right: Hoyts Cinemas

22 2010 CINEMARECORD