Ster Land Cinema
Claim Street,
Johannesburg
Claim Street,
Johannesburg
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Ster City Cinema
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Located on the corner of Claim Street and Plein Street. Opened in 1960’s in Johannesburg. Had three screens: Ster Cine 1000 with 886 seats, Ster Cine 700 with 659 seats, and Ster Cine 300 with 255 seats. First run luxury cinemas in a purpose built building very much in the 1960’s style design with lots of marble. Now completely derelict and standing empty.
It was closed in the late-1990’s
Contributed by
roger ruthven
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Is that located in Sandton, where they housed our tour group in 2000, or in central Johannesburg?
Central Johannesburg. It was the premier cinema complex in the city. Each of the three huge cinemas was individally designed with its own distinctive theme. Going to see a movie there was an event.
I remeber seeing such classics as Funny Girl, The way we were, Superman in huge 70mm presentations.
Today it is a home for vagrants and criminals and achieved notoriety recently when a 9 month old baby was sexually assaulted in one of the cinemas. A sad state of affairs
The Cine 1000 was for me the finest cinema in which to see a film. The cine 700 was also memorable although its long rectangular shape made it difficult to see the screen from the very back. The cine 300 was small but intimate. I loved the cinema complex and spent a large part of my youth watching films there. I also remember them adding some horrible shoebox type cinemas on the ground floor in the early 1980s. They also had a cine 100 high upstairs which used to be used to preview films to critics but was later opened to the public. I would be grateful for any further historical info as it is very difficult to obtain elsewhere.
If I’m not mistaken the movie that opened the Cine 300 was “If” with Malcom Macdowell. I remember what a huge impressiong this complex made at the time being the first modern cinema complex with plush seats and lots of leg room !
At the very same time an old suburban cinema in Orange Grove, The Asta was converted by Ster and opened with “The Producers”.
I have fond memories of watching movies here in the late 70s and early 80s. As a young boy, I loved looking at the Lego displays at the entrance to Cine 1000.
I also remember the bomb at Wits Command (accross the road from Ster City) in 1987 that caused some damage to the complex. Crazy times in SA!
a sorely missed cinema complex from a time when going to see a film was an event. unlike todays sausage machine multiplexes which have absolutely no atmosphere at all