Peter and Stephen Sourris have a long history of redeveloping and owning cinemas with the family business, Five Star Cinemas, owning New Farm Cinemas, Elizabeth Picture Theatre and the Yatala drive in.

The Brisbane City Council approved the family’s plans for its next project, redeveloping the Red Hill skate arena into five boutique movie cinemas in February, but global cinema chain Reading Cinemas has taken the family and the council to court over the approval.

The approved development at Red Hill is about three kilometres from Reading Cinemas Newmarket which opened in December 2017.

A court date has been set in Brisbane’s Planning and Environment Court, starting November 19, but the brothers have now put forward an alternative plan.

On Friday, a second development application for the site was submitted to the council.

The new application removed the approved bowling lanes but still included a standalone theatre with five cinemas.

Peter Sourris said he still hoped the original plan would be upheld in court.

“We’ve rejigged the plans a little bit, so we obviously want to have two approvals so we can choose which one we want to proceed with,” he said.

“If we have got two it’s more choice for us when we decide to go ahead and finish the build.”

Mr Sourris said he and his brother were committed to proceeding with the project.

“We want the community to know we’re doing our best to continue with this approval and bring the cinema back to its original use of more than 100 years ago,” he said.

More than 1700 residents have signed a petition calling on residents to support the approved Red Hill cinema despite it being taken to the Appeals Court.

Mr Sourris said the court is an open court and anybody from the public was welcome to attend.

"We’ve got nothing to hide," he said.

The hearing for the approved application is scheduled for the Planning and Environment Court on November 19, 20, 21 and 23.

The would assess the second application submitted for the site.