Open-Air Cinema concludes first season

Open-Air Cinema concludes first season

Open-Air Cinema at the Viaduct Harbour concludes its first season Auckland, 17 March 2004 "It has been an exciting season for us although the bad weather during this summer had a big impact on our financial turnout", comments director and manager Urs Bauer. But nevertheless Open-Air Cinema Ltd. will continue with this great idea, trying to get corporate sponsorship on board for one of the biggest summer events in the heart of the city of Auckland.

Around 12'000 people enjoyed the outdoor movie experience over the period from 15 January to 15 February. The biggest crowd was encountered for the showing of 'The Pirates of the Caribbean' on Saturday, 7 February with close to 1200 partons. "It shows the potential of our project and gives a great platform to build on", explains Urs Bauer. The fact, that it was a show with open-captions, subtitles to give deaf and hearing impaired people the chance to experience the outdoor movie theatre, sets a milestone for the cinema industry in New Zealand. The Human Rights Commission was delighted, that three movies out of 31 were with open-captions. "Also the other two, 'Finding Nemo' and 'Seabiscuit', did reasonably well, but the success of the 'Pirates' just blew us away", comments Bauer.

As a new kid on the block, Openair Cinema was facing a big challenge to get some of the recent productions into their program, but finally was the first independent movie theatre showing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on three following nights.

In its first season Open-Air Cinema Ltd. proofed its technical ability to provide a world-class standard for outdoor image and sound. "While our organization worked extremely well, we'll make some improvements in our set-up for next year", promises Bauer. "It's a learning curve for us as well as the patrons, but people who made suggestions, were able to see quick changes and improvements."

Pictures: http://www.openair.co.nz/openair_gallery.html

For more information contact urs@openair.co.nz

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Open-Air Cinema is a private initiative of some idealistic Waiheke Island residents. The aim is to add a spark to Auckland's summer lifestyle and offer a special movie-going experience to Aucklanders and tourists as well.

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