Dendy Cinema Pty Limited is an Australian cinema chain. Dendy operates in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. Its main competitors are

Hoyts The Hoyts Group of companies in Australia and New Zealand includes Hoyts Cinemas and Val Morgan. Hoyts operates more than 450 cinema screens and 55,000 seats, making it Australia's second largest movie exhibitor after Event Hospita ...

Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

Wallis Cinemas Wallis Cinemas, formerly Wallis Theatres, is a family-owned South Australian company that operates cinema complexes, cinemas and drive-in theatres in greater Adelaide and regional South Australia. Wallis Theatres works in conjunction with Big S ...

Palace Cinemas Palace Cinemas is the fifth largest major cinema chain in Australia, with various locations in CBD and inner suburban areas of most capital cities. Palace Cinemas currently comprises 24 cinemas with 180 screens and more than 550 staff. Its head o ...

and Reading. It is a subsidiary of

Icon Productions Icon Productions is a production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey, which, unlike most other independent production companies, funds most of its development and production cos ...

Ownership history

Dendy Cinemas launched screens in Brisbane in 1990 when Lyn McCarthy and

Graham Tubbenhauer Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan Gr ...

took over the former Metro Arts cinema in Edward Street. The Becker Group purchased the Dendy Cinemas chain in December 1997 and took over management in 1998.

Prime Media Group Prime Media Group Limited (formerly Prime Television Limited) was an Australian-based media corporation that formerly owned regional television network Prime7 in eastern Australia and GWN7 in regional Western Australia. It also owned ishop TV, ...

took control of Becker Group, including Dendy Cinemas, in 2007. Prime made a bid to buy the Hoyts cinema chain in September 2007 and after it missed out, media reported that Prime was looking to sell Dendy Cinemas before the end of the year. After a long takeover bid,

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...

's company Icon Film Distribution paid Prime $21 million for the cinema chain in 2008. Becker Group had originally planned to sell its cinema assets to the Becker family.

Cinema operations

Brisbane: Since 1990

Lyn McCarthy and Graham Tubbenhauer launched a Dendy Cinema in 1990 on Edward Street. In 1994, the Dendy Cinemas chain took over The George on George Street, Brisbane and added a second screen to the complex. The two-screen Dendy complex closed in 2008. Dendy opened a cinema at

Portside Wharf Portside Wharf is the international cruise terminal, residential and retail development at Hamilton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The Wharf is Brisbane's commercial international cruise terminal. It is also an upscale residential and retail ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

in 2006. In 2015, Dendy Cinemas committed to a 15-year lease to operate a 10-theatre cinema complex in Coorparoo Square in Brisbane's inner southeast.

Sydney

Dendy Martin Place, a single-screen cinema, opened in 1981 screening ''Stepping Out'', a documentary by

Chris Noonan Chris Noonan (born 14 November 1952) is an Australian Film director, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for the family film ''Babe (film), Babe'' (1995), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and Academy Award f ...

. Barbara Grummells and Fred O'Brien were the owners, launching the venue with the slogan "From tart house to art house". Dendy closed its

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...

cinema on 26 February 2020 after a decision not to renew its lease. , the sole remaining Dendy cinema is in Newtown.

Byron Bay: 2002 to 2012

Dendy operated a

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah)'' is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia on Bundjalung Country. It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a hea ...

cinema complex between 2002 and 2012. Movie chain Palace announced it would take over the site.

Canberra: Since 2006

In 2005, Canberra cinema Electric Shadows, which was established in 1979, announced it would partner with Dendy Cinemas to establish a cinema complex in the

Canberra Centre Canberra Centre is a large shopping centre located in the northern section of the Canberra City Centre, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, being the second largest centre in the Australian Capital Territory, behind Westfield Belconn ...

. The Canberra complex featured nine cinemas in a 4000 sq m complex, with seats for up to 1600 people. The complex opened ahead of Christmas 2006. In 2015, the Dendy Cinemas chain proposed an expansion to the cinemas complex in Canberra that would result in around 100 fewer carparks and six new cinemas.

Dendy Direct

In 2014, Dendy Cinemas launched an online movie store, Dendy Direct, featuring movies to rent or buy. Dendy Direct was shut down on 14 May, 2018 amid pressure from other competing streaming services such as

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

and

Stan Stan or STAN may refer to: People * Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name ** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy * Stan (surname), a Romanian surname * Stan! (born 1964), American author ...

References

{{reflist Australian brands Cinema chains in Australia 1980 establishments in Australia