Ritz Cinemas
Mel Gibson helped save this Art Deco cinema from demolition in the 1980s — it's still screening on 35mm and 70mm today.
Overview
The Ritz opened in Randwick in 1937, designed by architect Aaron Bolot in a restrained Art Deco style, and passed through Hoyts and a stint of ownership by the Brigidine Sisters before independent operators took it on in the 1960s.
When owners moved to demolish the building in the 1980s, a local campaign — backed by then-Randwick resident Mel Gibson — helped secure a heritage order that saved it. It's now one of only a few intact 1930s Art Deco cinemas left in Sydney, still fitted out with its original geometric plasterwork, curved foyer walls and chevron-motif lighting.
Kimberly Low
Family-owned and independent, the Ritz mixes new releases and arthouse titles with genuine film projection — it's one of the few Sydney cinemas still capable of screening 35mm and 70mm prints alongside digital.
The calendar leans into that history with recurring seasons like Classic Matinees, a run through the Golden Age of Hollywood, and This Is Celluloid, a year-long program of film-print screenings spanning the 1920s to now.
Images: Supplied.
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