Overview
The cinephiles behind Yarraville's iconic Sun Theatre have announced their plans to open a second location in nearby Footscray, with the eight-screen complex set to spring to life in 2019 or 2020 as part of a major new retail and residential development.
According to Star Weekly, the $70 million development at the former Forbes department store site on Albert Street will include a supermarket, shops, a 120-room retirement facility and more than 200 apartments. But it's the cinema that really has the potential to capture the imagination of the locals.
"I think every part of the community will be served," says Sun Theatre co-owner Michael Smith. "In Yarraville we've got subtitled films playing alongside Fast and the Furious. Different audiences like different things. There are the films my mum wants to see and the films my kids want to see."
"We're really committed to the inner west of Melbourne," he continues. "Footscray feels a bit like Yarraville did 15 years ago."
Smith sees the new theatre very much as a companion to The Sun, one that will allow them to expand their filmic offering. "The really big films, we'll have on at both locations, but a lot of those smaller ones we'll have at one or the other," he says. "As time goes on we might find that one film suits one site more than the other."
In terms of the décor, Smith isn't planning on recreating The Sun's art deco look, but promises a space "with its own unique style" that will reflect the surrounding suburb.
He also hopes to provide "a really good community area out the front," pointing to the success of the blocked-off street garden out the front of The Sun. "It's been enormously popular," he says. "It's a focal point for the community, not just for people coming to the cinema, but to anyone coming into the village. Those things are important."
With a grand opening still a few years away, Smith plans on building hype by hosting a number of outdoor screenings on the rooftop of the building next door. "Two or three screenings each summer for the next couple of years, until the cinema opens," he tells us. "It's pretty cool up there."