Ster Land Cinema
Claim Street,
Johannesburg
Claim Street,
Johannesburg
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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
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!
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”.
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.
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
Is that located in Sandton, where they housed our tour group in 2000, or in central Johannesburg?