Barr decreeing a cinema, hoping to find an operator

johnboy said :

It’s not like the developers are doing this out of their love of cinema and the people of gungahling.

Similarly if Greater Union wanted to build a cinema in Gungahlin it’s not like they, and all the other cinema chains, don’t have people working 24/7 to identify these opportunities.

So one has to fear, particularly with this backwards process, that somewhere along the line we’re going for a ride on this.

The Krnc group have not really been known as ‘developers’, their core business is running supermarkets (IGAs…they just sold the Hawker one to Woolies) so their main interest is the retail space. Does Gungahlin need a fourth supermarket?

God help us if we get another Hoyts. They are, hands down, the worst cinema experience around. The staff couldn’t care less about their work, the condition of the cinemas is usually pretty gross (even ignoring the time I found a foot-long human turd in the middle of the bathroom floor, metres from any stall or toilet), the prices they charge are outrageous, and the removal of the box office to force people to wait in even longer lines at the candy bar shows complete contempt for their customers.

Piracy isn’t killing the movie industry. Experiences like the ones Hoyts provide, are.

poetix said :

What I like is that all the people in the picture seem to be wearing the same black clothes. There is something ant-like about them, running around outside their new nest.

This is an excellent observation, love the imagery.

So, here we have:
a block of land being sold
to a developer
at market rates
after a competitive process
for a use that has been long sought after by the local community
at nil cost to the ratepayer
and the developer has to find a tenant as is the case for pretty much every commercial venture anywhere in the world.

So what is it again that you people are flapping on about?

johnboy said :

It’s not like the developers are doing this out of their love of cinema and the people of gungahling.

Similarly if Greater Union wanted to build a cinema in Gungahlin it’s not like they, and all the other cinema chains, don’t have people working 24/7 to identify these opportunities.

So one has to fear, particularly with this backwards process, that somewhere along the line we’re going for a ride on this.

Building a cinema in the middle of FTTH territory does not a good business model make.

bikhet said :

Your tax dollars at work! The man’s an idiot.

If the developer is wearing the cost then I withdraw my previous comment and say “More fool them.”

poetix said :

What I like is that all the people in the picture seem to be wearing the same black clothes. There is something ant-like about them, running around outside their new nest.

Hipsters (if that’s still a word)! Exile them to the northern wastes!

Still don’t see why you’ve got your pants in a bunch about this. The whole thing went through a two stage tender process, it is the developer that is negotiating with the cinema operator so I don’t see why the government is on the hook at all.

What I like is that all the people in the picture seem to be wearing the same black clothes. There is something ant-like about them, running around outside their new nest.

Is there a bigger hole than Gungahlin in the southern hemisphere? The entirety of north Canberra is a hole but not as big a hole as Gungahlin. Can we somehow remove it from the ACT and make it apart of NSW or something? Its an embarrassment.

As a Gungahlin resident with a school age kid I’m keen. Of course Mr 8 will probably be about 35 by the time it’s finished. I’m basing that assumption on the time it takes for anything else to be built in Gungahlin.

So having given up on the Deep South, the Government is buttering-up the New(ish) North.

I do so admire the wonderfully selective approach to rational economics by this Government.

Not sure why they’re still referring to Greater Union since the brand has been Event Cinemas for some time now. And I’m not sure why on earth anyone would want them to run another cinema? They let the Civic one go kaput and the Manuka one go to ruins. Dendy or Hoyts run much better operations.

magiccar9 said :

Um, do people still even go to a cinema? I thought it was a dying trade due to online outlets such as Apple TV/iTunes, Netflix, not to mention illegally sharing and everything in-between.

Well short of building a home theatre room, your typical HTiB set up isn’t quite the same as a cinema. But certainly the reasons to go to cinema are growing fewer. The delay between cinema release and online download/package release is very small now, gone are the months between cinema release and it coming out on DVD/VHS.

And obviously some people really get a buzz from the atmosphere, why else would people pay $30 to see Dr Who Day of the Doctor at Dendy when it’s on free to air TV the same night?

Um, do people still even go to a cinema? I thought it was a dying trade due to online outlets such as Apple TV/iTunes, Netflix, not to mention illegally sharing and everything in-between.

I honestly wonder how much thought went into this one. The Government cries poor, complains about their deficit, then magically has the money to burn on something novel like this… another WTF moment.

Your tax dollars at work! The man’s an idiot.

STANDING COMMITTEE ON PLANNING, ENVIRONMENT AND TERRITORY AND MUNICIPAL SERVICES WEDNESDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 2013:

Mr Coe: And how are the financials working with regard to the land? Is the government going to be granting the land or is it discounted? Are you going to be putting up money for the actual complex?

Mr Dawes: None of the above. What happens with all of our sites is that they are valued for what the purpose is. We had this discussion earlier. So there is a mixed-use development there, including a cinema, and that is taken into account. Once we have got the configuration of exactly what is going to go on the site, we will then go to three valuers and they will then set a valuation. We traditionally take the highest valuation.

The people’s cinema is deepest Red’s,
It shrouded oft our Stalin’s dead
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
Their hearts’ blood dyed its ev’ry fold.

Then raise the scarlet curtain high,
Within its shade we’ll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We’ll keep the Motorcycle Diaries showing here.

“The Battleship Potemkin” showing on continuous loop?

All praise Andrew Barr! His central planning brings the happiness to the people.

Man, what a life saver…

We’re so strapped for cinemas here in ‘berra, that the kind government has handed over a big stack of our hard earned $$$ in the hope someone will take it off their hands.

There will be no need then for the denizens of Gungahlin to pollute our fair city by making the massive expedition to get to Belconnen!

Mao ZeBarr’s own five year plan for socialising the entertainment industry.