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.

It should be noted that there is already a Nu Metro theatre at Bedford Centre — not to be confused with Bedford Square, where the Ster-Kinekor cinema was located.

“Nu Metro is open in Bedford Centre but is not open in Bedford Square,” said Smith.

He added that Bedford Centre, which manages Bedford Square, confirmed that the Nu Metro will open at Bedford Square sometime in May 2025.

MyBroadband asked Ster-Kinekor for further details about the site’s closure, but it hadn’t answered our questions by publication.

This comes after Ster-Kinekor announced plans in April 2024 to lay off staff and close up to nine cinemas in South Africa’s most populous provinces.

However, it didn’t proceed with all the planned terminations and closures.

The cinema company said factors like a challenging economic environment, load-shedding, and the impact of the Hollywood Actors’ strike had resulted in low attendance at its theatres.

It added that the Hollywood strikes meant promising titles scheduled for release in 2023 and 2024 were moved out to 2025.

“As these are forces largely out of the business’s control and the financial impact is likely to endure for some time, Ster-Kinekor has had to review its cost structure to ensure the continued survival and sustainability of the business,” it stated.

On 13 February 2025, it served staff with a section 189(3) notice and planned to retrench 236 of Ster-Kinekor’s 728 employees.

Positions in the firing line include those in the CEO’s office, marketing, sales, human resources, business operations, content, finance, head office, regional operations, and IT.

It also revealed plans to shutter up to nine of its cinemas nationwide.

These were mainly its cheaper theatres where tickets were priced between R65 and R75, placing cinemas like Bayside in the Western Cape in the firing line.

It planned to close sites like Cedar Square, Maponya, Matlosana, Southgate, and the iconic Sterland Theatre in Gauteng.

The Boardwalk and Shelly Beach cinemas in KwaZulu-Natal and the Mimosa Theatre in the Free State also faced closure.

Ster-Kinekor said the closures would happen gradually over six months.

However, good news came around two months later when Ster-Kinekor announced that it had completed the Section 189 and restructuring processes at the end of May and retrenched far fewer staff than initially planned.

It also reduced the number of cinemas set for closure from nine locations to just two.

Ster-Kinekor CEO Mark Sardi said the move had helped reduce the company’s costs and headcount by around 20% to 25%.

“We initially assessed that 236 jobs might be affected. However, we ended up retrenching just 52 employees, and these were largely head-office related,” said Sardi.

“A positive outcome in that we managed to mitigate the overall impact on headcount.”

He added that the company is in talks with landlords and partners at some cinemas marked for closure to consider alternative options.

“Initially, Ster-Kinekor was considering closing nine of its cinema sites, but at this stage, only two sites have been impacted — Boardwalk in Richard’s Bay and the Greenstone Mall,” said Sardi.

“Of the remaining sites identified, the company is currently in discussions with landlords and partners to consider different entertainment and education strategies within the cinema space.”

He added that Ster-Kinekor will always try to deploy staff to other cinemas when sites close.