Overview
If Hoyts Entertainment Quarter is your local picture palace, then your next trip to the movies just got a whole lot swankier. Because everyone likes going to the cinema in style, the Moore Park site has just unveiled the first stage of its new upgrade — including bigger seats, better screens and sound, and an upscale menu that spans far beyond just popcorn and choc tops.
In HEQ's 12-screen main complex, movie buffs can now sit in wide recliners with extra leg room, all for the standard ticket price. And if you really want your chair to move in sync with the film for some reason, one cinema also features "motion recliners" that'll shake, jolt and otherwise shift about as the flick plays. Yes, it's a pure gimmick — no one really needs to feel like they're on a rollercoaster while they're watching the latest action blockbuster or superhero movie — but it's the industry's latest attempt to tempt you off your couch and into the kind of experience you can only have in a cinema.
Hoyts has also turned three of its screens into Xtremescreen cinemas — they feature extra large screens, plus Dolby Atmos 7.1 audio — and added Sydney's first Samsung Onyx LED cinema screen. The latter spans 14 metres, displays images at 4K resolution and with high dynamic range picture quality, and can reach ten times the brightness of a standard projector.
For those less concerned about technical specs and more interested in snacks, Hoyts has unveiled a new menu for its Lux cinemas, too — aka its version of gold class. On the lineup: jamon croquettes, mac 'n' cheese balls, three kinds of bao, a range of sliders and Malteaser-topped sundaes, with Manu Feildel designing the selection. A sizeable list of wine, beer, spirits and cocktails is also on offer, so you can pair your next movie with an espresso martini or a spiked milkshake.
The candy bar area has had a revamp as well, and is now home to Artie's Bar and Cafe — where you can nab a pizza to take into the movie with you — plus the Baskin-Robbins ice cream-slinging Treat City.
Hoyts will also be levelling up its second, smaller four-screen site at Entertainment Quarter, although that won't happen until later this year.
Find Hoyts Entertainment Quarter at Bent Street, Moore Park — with Hoyts' new cinemas now open in its main 12-screen complex, and its smaller four-screen site set to be upgraded later this year.