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Located in the city centre of Brisbane. The Lyceum Theatre was opened as a cinema in 1906 with 800 seats. It was renamed Elite Theatre in the 1920’s.

In 1965, it was rebuilt by Greater Union Theatres and re-opened as the George Cinema with Sophia Loren in “The Fall of the Roman Empire”.

The cinema was equipped to screen 70mm films with stereophonic sound. The foyer was decorated with ‘Roman’ style statues and urns, and had Italian Renaissance style decorations in the auditorium. The George Cinema operated until 1991 when it closed and lay unused for three years.

It was taken over by the Dendy Cinemas chain in 1994 and was twinned, with seating provided for 250 and 216. The Dendy Cinema was closed in 2008, and again the building lay empty. It was taken over by an independent operator in 2010 and was renamed Tribal Theatre. Screening independent, foreign and film revivals, it was Brisbane’s only art house cinema. It hosted the Brisbane International Film Festival in November 2011 and was closed soon after.

In August 2018 it was taken over by the Hillsong Church and they gutted interior back to the bare brick.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -