Ster-Kinekor plans for R50 movie tickets
Ster-Kinekor plans to continue its R50 Throwback Cinema ticket offering until at least the end of May 2025, with various classics lined up over the next four months.
The cinema chain has also revealed the Throwback Cinema titles it will play weekly in March, April, and May 2025.
“People who love movies love reliving those great movie moments on the big screen,” Ster-Kinekor chief marketing officer Lynne Wylie told MyBroadband.
“This campaign allows us to bring back some of those unforgettable movies for our customers to enjoy at an affordable ticket price.”
“We’ve had a wonderful time going through the catalogues to select the films, and we are sure everyone who books a ticket will have a similar experience while watching it,” she added.
The cinema chain aired 34 Throwback Cinema titles in 2024, during which each title played for a full week. Wylie said the most popular titles aired in 2024 were as follows:
- Home Alone
- Back to the Future 1
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- Pulp Fiction
- Notting Hill
- Back to the Future 2
- Dead Poet’s Society
- Elf
- Blade Runner
- The Mummy
It aired movies like Interstellar, No Country for Old Men, The Truman Show, Groundhog Day, and Pursuit of Happiness in early 2025.
“Interstellar has been the overall best-performing Throwback Cinema title to date,” said Wylie.
Ster-Kinekor launched its Throwback Cinema offering in May 2024, with the first rotation of titles including Chicago, Meet Joe Black, Notting Hill, and Back to the Future 1.
It aired one of these titles each week between early May and June 2024.
They were offered at select cinemas, including Fourways and Sandton in Johannesburg, Irene and The Grove in Tshwane, Mall of the North in Polokwane, Gateway in Umhlanga, Somerset Mall in Somerset West, and Tygervallet and V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.
The initial run was a success. Ster-Kinekor announced that it would continue offering Throwback Cinema titles, lining up Braveheart, Steel Magnolias, The Mummy Returns, and Pretty Woman to run between June and July 2024.
“Throwback Cinema allows us to bring back some timeless films for our customers to relive and enjoy once again, at a very affordable ticket price,” said Wylie.
“We’ve had a wonderful time going through the catalogues to select the films, and we are sure everyone who books a ticket to watch one of them will have a similar big-screen experience.”
It also expanded the cinemas offering Throwback Cinema titles to include Ilanga in Mbombela and The Grove in Windhoek, Namibia.
The table below lists Ster-Kinekor’s Throwback Cinema line-up from early March to the end of May 2025.
| Start date | Movie |
|---|---|
| 7 March | Good Will Hunting |
| 14 March | Inception |
| 21 March | One Direction: This is Us |
| 29 March | Babe |
| 4 April | Shrek 1 |
| 11 April | The Social Network |
| 18 April | Madagascar |
| 25 April | Jumanji |
| 2 May | The Patriot |
| 9 May | Night at the Museum |
| 16 May | Philadelphia |
| 23 May | To be confirmed… |
| 30 May | The Breakfast Club |
Ster-Kinekor bouncing back
Cinemas in South Africa have been hard hit by the uptake of streaming services, combined with intense load-shedding in recent years, the after-effects of the Covid-19 lockdowns, and the Hollywood scriptwriters’ and actors’ strikes in 2023.
However, things are starting to look up. Ster-Kinekor came close to firing a large portion of its staff in April 2024 as a result of its struggles, but it ended up only laying off a fraction of the staff it planned to dismiss.
Wylie also told MyBroadband that the pain experienced as a result of the strikes in 2023 is starting to subside.
“While the impact of the Hollywood scriptwriters’ and actors’ strikes last year is still being felt, with the release dates of many of the big blockbuster titles and other movies delayed as a result, this is now starting to ease,” she said in late 2024.
Wylie added that Ster-Kinekor expected audience numbers to rise as big blockbuster titles were released in November and December 2024 and into 2025.
She said it also expected the festive season to result in higher audience numbers from mid-November 2024 until early 2025.
The release of highly anticipated titles like Gladiator II, Wicked Part 2, and Moana 2 in November and Mufasa: The Lion King and Sonic 3 in December would also help boost audience numbers.
“With a slate of excellent titles being released over the second half of this year and into 2025, cinemagoers will be spoilt for choice,” said Wylie.
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