The final movie screening at Dunedin's Hoyts cinema tonight is the same movie that screened when the cinema opened 20 years ago.
Jurassic Park will be privately screened to past and present cinema staff.
The cinema closes tonight and decommissioning will begin tomorrow. When Hoyts' lease expires, Reading Entertainment will take over and refurbish the building.
Former Hoyts Dunedin projectionist Jarrod Blay said he would attend the final screening. He recalled the cinema being ''crazy'' on the opening day in 1993.
Hoyts' Dunedin manager, Mandie Watson, said many of the 35 Hoyts Dunedin staff cried about the cinema closing and being made redundant.
They could not afford to wait for the new cinema to open to find work.
Hoyts' New Zealand general manager of operations, Matthew Garelli, said the company was ''definitely looking'' at opening another cinema in Dunedin.
Reading Entertainment managing director Wayne Smith said from Melbourne that, in an ''ideal world'', the company would open the new cinema early next year.
''There's an extensive construction re-fit to take place over several months, as the complex is being completely remodelled from top to bottom.''
Metro Cinema owner John Wilson said that he was accepting Hoyts vouchers and would be screening more mainstream movies.
Rialto Cinemas spokeswoman Lily Richards said Rialto Cinemas Dunedin would continue to play a wide range of films, but they could have a shorter run than usual.
