Lights, camera, action - a cinema company has signalled interest in opening a complex in Dubbo, which faces a movie blackout from April 30 when Reading Cinema plans to close.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
While a new movie venue is a long way off, fans can take comfort that at least three developers are exploring possibilities. Two contacted town planners about possible sites after the closure was announced.
Developers of the planned Victoria Park Centre, which still needs council development approval, said this week they were talking to a cinema company new to Dubbo. Most things were in place for a lease to be signed.
Meanwhile, talks over rent between Reading and the Riverdale shopping centre were continuing but it was like a silent movie - not a sound on success or failure of negotiations from either side.
Reading said last week it was closing its five-screen complex, which served about 175,000 patrons a year, because leasing costs had made it unviable.
It came as a major shock to movie goers and communities in Dubbo and towns in the region.
The Daily Liberal's website and social media pages were flooded by people seeking information after the announcement.
The move could leave Dubbo as the only population centre of its size in Australia without cinemas. That can't happen.
Fans will be on the edge of their seats while the various plots unfold, fervently hoping that projectors will roll in Dubbo.