Final Curtain Set to Fall at Brisbane's Regent Theatre

Cinema lovers are being urged not to let one of Australia's last remaining Hollywood-style picture palaces go unmarked.
The historic Regent Cinemas in Brisbane are scheduled for demolition this year to make way for a high-rise office tower.
The office tower will incorporate the 80-year-old theatre's heritage-listed grand foyer but not the ornate bar area, the red-brick Elizabeth Street facade and former stage-door entrance, or any of the four cinemas.
Brett Debritz, who runs the âSave the Regentâ campaig, said movie lovers should make the effort to attend screenings at the Regent, especially at the heritage-rich Showcase cinema, before the complex's scheduled closure in June.
Debritz advised "the managers are organising a film festival for the cinemas' closing weeks in May and June, and I urge people to attend not just these events, but any other screenings in the complex between now and then - especially those at the Showcase cinema.
"The Showcase is a unique venue and the last reminder in Brisbane of the Hollywood-style picture palaces that were once commonplace throughout Australia.
"While the Melbourne venue has been restored, and is now once again a thriving live theatre venue, the Brisbane Regent's owners have not had the foresight, or the government and council support, to do the same thing."
Debritz said the Regent's four cinemas would be replaced by three smaller rooms which could be used as boutique cinemas, but two of them had the capacity of just 60 seats.
"What we will have when this development is finished, assuming the foyer survives the demolition and construction work, is a red carpet to nowhere.
"And, once again, Brisbane will have earned its reputation as a city that destroys its past as it did with Her Majesty's Theatre, the Wintergarden, the Bellevue, Cloudland, Festival Hall and many other historic buildings, rather than one that embraces it."

http://www.savetheregent.com