Tracking Shots
Flashbacks: New Zealand History on Film
Filmgoing in the 1920s
By the beginning of the 1920s the movies had moved into the age of superlatives.
In Hollywood moguls were thinking in millions, productions were stupendous and colossal, star salaries were astronomical and cinemas had become palaces.
The excitement was not lost on New Zealanders. On 16 April 1927 the "Films and Stage" section of The Dominion reported there were 405 picture theatres nation-wide plus an additional 20 shows controlled by the YMCA in military camps, hospitals and public works camps and a further 180 theatres in circuit towns. The value of these theatres was said to be in the region of £12,000,000 with an estimated 10,000 people employed in the moving picture business.
By the end of the decade cinema was easily the country's most popular entertainment. Auckland’s luxurious Civic Theatre, built at a cost of £205,000 with seating for 3,500 opened in 1929 by which time a sixth of the Auckland population went to the movies every Saturday night.
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