Berkeley Cinemas refers to a two-complex premium brand of cinemas owned by
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 ...
Pty Australia. Previously owned by Everard Entertainment, the Berkeley Cinema Group was one of the largest cinema chains in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, New Zealand, with complexes in
Mission Bay,
Hibiscus Coast
The Hibiscus Coast is a populated area on a stretch of the Hauraki Gulf coast in New Zealand's Auckland Region. It has a population of making it the 11th most populous urban area in New Zealand, and the second most populous in the Auckland Re ...
,
Takapuna
Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...
, and
Botany Downs
Botany Downs is an eastern suburb of the city of Auckland, New Zealand. This residential area previously formed part of the East Tāmaki area.
In terms of local-body administration, the suburb lies in the Howick ward, one of the thirteen adm ...
. After being bought out by Hoyts Pty Australia in May 2010, its Hibiscus Coast and Botany Downs complexes were rebranded to become Hoyts complexes, leaving Mission Bay and Takapuna as the "Berkeley" Cinemas.
Berkeley Cinemas was the first cinema chain in Auckland to introduce higher-end seating towards the rear of individual theatres (called the "Circle Lounge"), offering restaurant amenities for a higher ticket price. Before Hoyts built its Guinness World Record breaking screen at
Sylvia Park
Sylvia Park is a large business park and shopping centre in the Auckland suburb of Mount Wellington in New Zealand. Less commonly known, the area around the centre (which includes some residential and other commercial developments) is also ca ...
in 2007, the Botany Downs complex hosted New Zealand's largest cinema screen, "The Sumo Screen", with a size equivalent to 519 42" screens, and a theatre capacity of 491 seats.
The Mission Bay complex was Berkeley's first and original complex, and has four cinemas ranging in seating capacity from 80 to 100 seats, and has a lounge-style bar. The Takapuna complex, which opened in 2001, replaced the original Tudor theatre (which had one cinema) with a new four-auditorium theatre, bar and restaurant (previously Akdenis, then Onion Johnny, now Marvel Grill). The complex was the first in Auckland to implement a telephone reservation system, and has four cinemas ranging in seating capacity from 78 to 152 seats.
External links
Hoyts Cinemas New Zealand
Cinemas in New Zealand
Entertainment companies of New Zealand
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