Major Ster-Kinekor cinema in Joburg closed

Daniel Puchert

Daniel Puchert

Journalist
Staff member
Joined
Mar 6, 2024
Messages
2,790
Reaction score
2,644
Ster-Kinekor closes major Joburg cinema

Ster-Kinekor has reportedly closed its cinemaplex in Bedford Square, Bedfordview, and it is being replaced by Nu Metro, according to entertainment journalist Jason Smith.

Smith posted images of the closed cinema with a "Nu Metro Coming Soon" sign placed outside on Twitter/X.
 
Ster Kinekor seems to be on a closing spree these days. It seems they closed down the cinema at the Centurion mall with little to no warning... wonder if Nu Metro will take that over too or not.
 
They’ve been around forever.

| Ster-Kinekor

www.sterkinekor.com www.sterkinekor.com


1896

Ster-Kinekor has come a long way since its first movies were shown in South Africa in 1896, at the Empire Palace of Varieties.
The company operates 57 commercial cinema complexes in South Africa, with six international sites based in Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

1910

However, the first dedicated bioscope opened 1910. Then the great depression hit and times were dark. But after the great depression, with optimism in the air, I.W Schlesinger formed the African Theatres Trust. During this time, Kinemas (S.A) Ltd became main the competition. However, Kinemas and African Theatres Trust merged to form African Consolidated Theatres LTD. It was during this time that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and 20th Century Fox entered the local market.

1955

A game-changing sale took place in 1955 when African Consolidated Ltd sold to 20th Century Fox. Over a decade later, in 1969, 20th Century Fox sold to Sanlam. Sanlam that already owned Ster Films and Ster Theatres.

1970 - 1997

During this time Government decreed that companies be run separately as Ster and Kinekor, but in 1970, Government permitted the merger of the two companies as Ster-Kinekor. Also at that time, television arrived in South Africa.

1976 saw the Cinema Multiplex Complex Development and in 1997, Ster-Kinekor developed an art circuit rebranding and Cinema Nouveau was born.
 
Couple of weeks ago, I took someone to see Bridget Jones at Tygervalley.
We literally had the whole cinema to ourselves.

When the movie was finished, as we were exiting, we both realised, other than the staff, there was no one at the cinema.

Its expensive.
 
had a Nu metro on the other side, and that entire centre has shops closing as much as new shops opening,
these days the only people walking around Bedford Centre are criminals and drug dealers

used to be such a modest and homely shopping mall, if you wanted big, you drove down the road to Eastgate,
but then they went nuts with malls, 4 Shopping centres all within 1KM of each other,

and here is the end result, they cant keep the cinemas open when they just build and build and dont think who will actually sustain it.

in actual fact, the entire Shopping centre/apartments and tunnel was simply an exercise in futility, they literally have apartments that are empty and employ people to open and close curtains to give the impression of occupancy.

been that way for years,
 
Sometimes its easier to get out of a commercial lease agreement entirety, than it is to renegotiate and existing one. The lawyers have set it up that way.

That is why you get the store closing/opening happening at the same time.

Its definitely an industry that can do with a demand crash to reset all through incredibly expensive agreements.
 
Jet-Fighter7700 said:
had a Nu metro on the other side, and that entire centre has shops closing as much as new shops opening,
these days the only people walking around Bedford Centre are criminals and drug dealers

used to be such a modest and homely shopping mall, if you wanted big, you drove down the road to Eastgate,
but then they went nuts with malls, 4 Shopping centres all within 1KM of each other,

and here is the end result, they cant keep the cinemas open when they just build and build and dont think who will actually sustain it.

in actual fact, the entire Shopping centre/apartments and tunnel was simply an exercise in futility, they literally have apartments that are empty and employ people to open and close curtains to give the impression of occupancy.

been that way for years,
Click to expand...
There's a general lack of common sense with regards to malls and entertainment. Now, with the Centurion Mall Ster Kinekor closing down, there's essentially no movie theatres in all of Centurion, which is a big / wide area. There is one at Irene but practically that is borderline Pretoria East.
Factor in, that in Pretoria East, within a 10km radius, there are at least 4 cinemas (3x Nu Metro's and 1x Ster Kinekor) at Malls probably a maximum of 3km away from each other.
 
Flojo said:
Couple of weeks ago, I took someone to see Bridget Jones at Tygervalley.
We literally had the whole cinema to ourselves.

When the movie was finished, as we were exiting, we both realised, other than the staff, there was no one at the cinema.

Its expensive.
Click to expand...

Bridget Jones?
 
Times have changed and cinema's that still exist are in an odd space. When I was young and even when my 20 something kids were young, going to the mall on a Saturday to watch a movie was a thing. Kids now have YouTube and crap like TikTok to keep their misfiring minds amused. They get together and will sit around and stare at their phones and not interact with each other. When I was young we would be dropped off at as mall, go see a movie then go to the food court afterwards for a burger then waste R5 or so on arcade games then off to CNA to read magazines or we would go to the OK or Foto Cats and oogle over the latest hifi's we would never own.
 
Mekon said:
Times have changed and cinema's that still exist are in an odd space. When I was young and even when my 20 something kids were young, going to the mall on a Saturday to watch a movie was a thing. Kids now have YouTube and crap like TikTok to keep their misfiring minds amused. They get together and will sit around and stare at their phones and not interact with each other. When I was young we would be dropped off at as mall, go see a movie then go to the food court afterwards for a burger then waste R5 or so on arcade games then off to CNA to read magazines or we would go to the OK or Foto Cats and oogle over the latest hifi's we would never own.
Click to expand...
I keep saying to my son (aged 14), I will take him to the Mall. He just doesnt want too.
Kids dont like / want to go to the mall.

I dont understand it. They wear this Cotton brand clothing, to look cool ... but at home.
 
a5c.gif
 
Well, it's becoming increasingly more difficult to find reasons to just get out of the house for a couple of hours.
These days, aside from visiting friends or family (which would entail just sitting around at their homes) it seems the only reason is to go to work, go shopping for groceries or clothes and occasionally go on a vacation or some kind of excursion or grand adventure somewhere.
Previously you could at least just pop in to the local movie theatre with a big bucket of popcorn and soda, watch a movie, to get away from things for an hour or two.
 
This finally went the way of the drive in and Roadhouse.......
 
Flojo said:
Couple of weeks ago, I took someone to see Bridget Jones at Tygervalley.
We literally had the whole cinema to ourselves.

When the movie was finished, as we were exiting, we both realised, other than the staff, there was no one at the cinema.

Its expensive.
Click to expand...
Who the f pays to watch kuk like that?
 
OnlyOneKenobi said:
Well, it's becoming increasingly more difficult to find reasons to just get out of the house for a couple of hours.
These days, aside from visiting friends or family (which would entail just sitting around at their homes) it seems the only reason is to go to work, go shopping for groceries or clothes and occasionally go on a vacation or some kind of excursion or grand adventure somewhere.
Previously you could at least just pop in to the local movie theatre with a big bucket of popcorn and soda, watch a movie, to get away from things for an hour or two.
Click to expand...
True, but it is also the cost. 2 Adults and one child came to R3k. Really not worth it at all.
 
Magnum said:
This finally went the way of the drive in and Roadhouse.......
Click to expand...
Drive-ins were at least useful for a weekend pomp.

And even if it wasn't, drive-ins and roadhouses were more about the social outing than the movie. I wish they were still around.

Cinemas on the other hand have no use other than seeing a movie before it arrives on streaming. And people are prepared to wait...
 
Flojo said:
Couple of weeks ago, I took someone to see Bridget Jones at Tygervalley.
We literally had the whole cinema to ourselves.

When the movie was finished, as we were exiting, we both realised, other than the staff, there was no one at the cinema.

Its expensive.
Click to expand...

I watched Guardians of the Galaxy 3 on the Friday night of its release week. I was one of only two people in the entire cinema.

Even when queuing for popcorn and coke, it was a breeze. Maybe 5/6 groups of people.

20-years ago that same cinema would have been jam packed on a Friday night, and you would risk missing the start of your movie if you didn't get there 30+ minutes earlier because of the massive queues at the concession stands.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter