WhakaMax Movies

In Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty region in the North Island, the first building to provide entertainment on this site was the King’s Theatre.

It is not known when that opened, but it did present film shows, alongside its live presentations, from the early years. The only dates I have been able to ascertain were in 1911, when singer Te Rangi Pai (the stage name of Fanny Howie) performed there, and 1916, when W. Thompson ran a sweet shop at the front of the theatre.

Sadly, the King’s Theatre was destroyed by fire, thought to have been in 1919.

Presumably the site lay undeveloped for some time, because it was not until 1937 that the present cinema, then called the Regent Theatre, was built and operated by Kerridge-Odeon

In 1995 the Regent Theatre was twinned (in which configuration is not known).

Then, in 2002, it was further sub-divided into the present five screens, and given the appropriate name of Cinema 5 (that still adorns the rear wall).

Around 2012-2014, the cinema was renamed WhakaMax Movies.

Two Simplex 35mm projectors are on display, and there are some items of memorabilia (mostly 8mm home movie films and projectors) in a display case. But the building’s most striking feature is the huge film reel that seems to ‘erupt’ from its frontage!

Seating capacities are: Screen 1:100, Screen 2:70, Screen 3:42, Screen 4:65 and Screen 5:65.

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