Cinemas in Christchurch

Christchurch, a sleepy little town in New Zealand, has a variety of entertainment to fit all tastes and budgets. Christchurch is a vivacious city with exciting festivals, new and original theatre, art galleries, awesome shopping and other award winning attractions. Right from nightclubs, pubs, bars and clubs for a vibrant nightlife, there are also theaters for enjoying the performing arts, as well as Cinemas in Christchurch where one can go to for some amazing entertaining.

Cinemas in Christchurch had a very modest beginning, with the first film screenings in Christchurch on 7 November 1896 by James F. MacMahon, a film exhibitor from Melbourne, Australia, at the Cinematographic Salon. After that, Cinemas in Christchurch began to grow in leaps and bounds, and now there are many cinema screens in Christchurch, with more being planned to come up in the near future.

A listing of some of the theatres and Cinemas in Christchurch are as follows, listed in chronological order of opening of the building -

- Cinematographic Salon (7 November 1986) [1896-1896]
- Castle Theatre [1906-1907]
- Cyclorama [1906-1907]
- Globe Theatre [1912-1917]
- Washington Theatre (Addington) [1915-1915]
- Starland Theatre [1916-1918]
- Joyland Theatre AKA: Princess (New Brighton) [1916-1946]
- Premier Theatre AKA: Roxy, Lido (New Brighton) [1916-1975]
- Premier Theatre (Papanui) [1917-1924]
- Strand Theatre AKA: Plaza [1917-1963]
- Liberty Theatre AKA: Savoy [1917-1993]
- Majestic Theatre [1930-1970]
- Regent Theatre [1930-1996]
- State Theatre [1935-1977]
- Mayfair Theatre AKA: Cinerama [1935-1985]
- Avon Theatre [1935-1989]
- Century Theatre (St Albans) [1940-1968]
- Little Theatre [1957-1959]
- Vogue Theatre (Spreydon) [1959-1969]
- Ilam Theatre (Fendalton) [1960-1969]
- Christchurch Town Hall [1972- ]
- Roxy Theatre (New Brighton) [1977-1985]
- Skyway Theatre AKA: Pantages (Hornby) [1981-1991]
- Midcity Theatre AKA: Lumiere [1982-2000]
- Fernland [1983-1988
- Metro Theatre, Creation [1986-]
- Downtown Theatre [1986-1994]
- Clocktower Theatre [1989-1993]
- Cinema 3 (Hornby) [1991- ]
- Hoyts 8 [1993- ]
- Cloisters Theatre [1994- ]
- Rialto [1996- ]
- The Door Theatre [2003- ]
- Cinecafe [2004- ]

Another great thing in Christchurch is that it is film-friendly city, with quite a lot of shooting of Cinemas in Christchurch. A number of films, for instance, in recent times, the film called recent 'Meet Me in Miami' was shot here. With an active film club as well, the Cinemas in Christchurch have such a following, that in 2003, Film NZ officially recognized the Christchurch Council's patronage of the film industry, and awarded it the status of 'Film Friendly' in the official sense of the term.