Dendy Cinemas Canberra, which a decade ago started as a boutique, arthouse venture in the Canberra Centre, is now the biggest movie theatre in the national capital with six new screens officially opened on Wednesday night in a "close to" $10 million-extension.
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There are now 15 screens at Dendy Canberra, including two premium lounge screens. Dendy Canberra now accounts for the most screens of any Dendy located along the eastern seaboard.
The new cinemas are up a level of the existing complex in the North Quarter at the Canberra Centre, with a new foyer featuring floor-to-ceiling windows offering panoramic views of Civic across to Black Mountain.
And that's just the start of movie-led investment, with a new cinema at Gungahlin, to be run by Hoyts, also due to open by 2018.
There are also still plans for a cinema to, eventually, be built just across the border in Queanbeyan, with a site in Morisset Street sidelined for it.
According to the latest report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberrans are the biggest moviegoers in the nation, with 80 per cent of residents aged 15 or over attending the flicks at least once during the previous year. (That report was from 2013-14 with fresh results out next year, according to the ABS).
The ACT is also up there in terms of screens per capita, with at least 55 screens in the national capital, or about one screen per 6500 residents.
Hoyts at Belconnen has 10 screens while Hoyts at Woden has eight screens.
Palace Electric Cinema in New Acton has eight screens; Capitol Cinemas Manuka has six screens and Limelight Cinemas at Tuggeranong has eight screens.
Dendy opened in the Canberra Centre in December, 2006 with nine screens.
The $10 million joint venture with the Queensland Investment Corporation, the owner of the Canberra Centre, sees 600 (non-reclinable) cinema seats added at Dendy, bringing the total to 1100. Staff has also increased by 20 to 70.
A Dendy spokeswoman said the expansion was a show of confidence in Canberra.
"A rising Canberra population and the ACT Government's investment into improving the CBD, as well as connecting the city and suburbs with the soon-to-be light rail network, are all contributing factors to this expansion," she said.
"Our partner, QIC, also continue to work hard with us and are expanding their offering to attract more and more people into the CBD with lots of recreational options from dining to shopping and of course the biggest cinema in town.
"Dendy want to offer more content, more films to the diverse and growing Canberra population and make the CBD a richer and dynamic experience for everyone. All of these things feed into the investment."
Dendy Cinemas Canberra general manager Kyle Amor said the independent chain was not concerned about competition from the Hoyts cinema opening in Gungahlin.
"Not at all. Dendy's different to Hoyts. We have a different clientele, we have different content," Mr Amor said.
"I guess we have a different image in the community. We're not concerned. I guess we wouldn't have expanded and added six more screens if we didn't believe we could fill them."
Still, both Hoyts and Dendy are playing more of the same content with mainstream movies such as Wonder Woman and Baywatch being shown by both chains and both opening blockbuster Despicable Me 3 on Thursday.
A Dendy Cinemas spokeswoman said: "We play what people tell us they want to see, based on what they come through the doors to see and put their money down to see.
"Having more screens means we can play a lot more content, a lot more titles and hold on to them for a lot longer."
