Yesterday, Dagmar Rohrbach, of the Bigger Picture Oamaru Trust, confirmed it had secured a lease at the Anderson & Mowats building at 10 Harbour St in the town’s Victorian precinct.
The 1875 Oamaru stone building is owned by the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust.
She said the building would enable the trust, which had filed an application to be registered so it could apply for external funding, to provide people in Oamaru with a movie-going experience that was "uniquely Oamaru".
"It’s a beautiful building and I am always amazed how busy it is down here on any given day.
"We feel the location we have found and the concept we are looking at will create a unique experience that will be attractive to our community, and probably beyond."
She said the location would also work well given its close proximity to eateries in the area and in nearby lower Thames St.
News the trust has secured a site comes less than two weeks after it was announced that Limelight Cinema in central Oamaru had been leased to the owners of another cinema.
While the new lessee wished to remain anonymous, it planned to have the business running in October or November, building owner Gerard Auckram told the Otago Daily Times earlier this month.
Mrs Rohrbach said the announcement was unexpected, but welcomed the news.
"It probably came as a bit of a surprise, but then it’s great news. It’s wonderful for us to see that we were right in our evaluation of the interest and excitement in Oamaru and we can see an entity like that doing well."
She said it had no impact on the trust’s plans.
"It does not mean we are stopping there and we’re done. We have not stopped because at this stage it’s a declaration of intent and I appreciate that, but so far we have only heard from the landlord and do not know what potential options they are planning. Is it really going to happen?"
At the trust’s cinema, two screens were planned, each theatre having about 50 seats.
There would be screenings seven days a week, and session times would be based on the style of films being shown and their target market.
The number of screens and audience capacity were based on research the pair conducted on movie theatres in similar sized towns.
Mrs Rohrbach said research also revealed people wanted an "up-to-date, modern, highly professional" experience, and that the trust would have to employ "one or two" paid staff as well as utilising volunteers.
Neither a name nor an opening date had been decided yet.
