Pie chart

 

Demographics of holiday attendance versus school term attendance as previously mentioned. 

Our awesome stop animation video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBllhYiiG3w&list=HL1354768682&feature=mh_lolz

holiday business and demographics

there is a sixty five percent higher attendance rate in the holidays amoung the public, and a thirty five percent attendance rate in the school term- this suggests that the school kids boost business and the holidays are good business for the cinema.

Present state and profile of the roxy, and Mr Brainwood

The Roxy Cinema Complex today is still very successful considering the current economic state in which Australia has just come out of a recession. The recession didn’t have that much of an impact on the Cinema until about the last 9 months. In the last 6 months, the box office demographics noticeably dropped for all of australia but are beginning to rise again. Depending on what movies have been released, the loss of numbers can easily be made up in three weeks. At the moment there are about 5000 people that flow through cinema a week but that can change depending on the title of a movie or in school holidays. Generally the cinema gets between 250-500 people a day where as in the school holidays there can be as many as 1000 people.
The location of the cinema according to the owner, Bob Brainwood, has an impact on the business of the cinema as it is located close to the main part of town. Mr Brainwood believes that the location of the cinema is so much more beneficial than the location of the former West Theatre that used to be across the road to Nowra Post Office. As well as the location in relation to other assets and attractions in Nowra, the Roxy Cinema Complex has more space to expand if necessary and a large carpark at the back which is an added bonus.
Mr Brainwood and the cinema have three main target audiences; the teens, adults who enjoy action and people who like arthouse style. One of the benefits to having 5 theatres is the Roxy can be showing movies that target all audiences at the same time which brings in more business and income. Depending on titles and movies there is no real main audience or social group which uses the cinema, there is a very diverse range of people that are targeted.
The Roxy Cinema benefits the local community in many varying ways. Some of these include bringing tourism and business into the nowra area which, in turn benefits not only the cinema but surrounding businesses. The Roxy Cinema is one of the main attractions and assets in the shoalhaven area as it gives variation in activities in the Nowra area. It is a great way for kids to spend their holidays and weekends and is perfect for adults and parents who are looking to get out of the house and do something for themselves. The cinema and many others not only support their local community but the whole film making business as a whole.
Future developments that Mr Brainwood and the general Manager, Mel, wish to make include opening a coffee shop and another theatre. Opening a 6th theatre will greatly contribute to the amount of business that comes in and will allow for a more diverse range of movies for different audiences to be played at once. This will benefit the business in many ways. Setting up a coffee shop inside the cinema will dramatically benefit the business and draw more people into the cinema. Mr Brainwoods desire is for the coffee shop to be similar to McCafe and he aims to have it in place by christmas. In doing this the cinema will have a new asset and prize feature. This will be a great move for the business.
Mr Brainwood has been in the theatre and cinema business since he left school at 14. He bought the Roxy Cinema in 1976 after realising that the drive through cinemas he was working at wouldn’t last. He decided two years prior to buy the roxy and the previous owner informed him that when she wanted to sell up she would contact him. When Mr Brainwood purchased the cinema he made some renovations and converted it from one theatre into three and soon added on another two. Since buying the Roxy Mr Brainwood has loved it and never regretted the decision, which was clearly a good one. He loves it so much that he has built his own cinema in his home. As well as owning the Roxy Cinema Complex, Mr Brainwood also manages many other regional cinemas and has set up a business which specialises in programming for cinemas. Understanding and predicting changes in society is a great skill to have to effectively keep a business running and Mr Brainwood uses this to plan what future developments need to be made to the cinema in order to keep up to date with with changes not only within society but the government and new regulations as well.

In the future, the changes and developments that are being planned for the cinema are for the best and will increase the popularity of the business. As the cinema is already extremely successful, I believe it can only keep moving forward and become an even bigger asset to, not only nowra, but the Shoalhaven as well. Considering the economic state that the cinema is no i think if there were to be another recession the Roxy won’t be affected too much. Even if numbers do drop the cinema would still be one of the main attractions of central nowra and plenty of people would still use the asset. Overall the Roxy Cinema is a very successful business and is one of the main assets of Nowra and the Shoalhaven and helps cultivate the Nowra’s charm and appeal.

History of the Roxy Cinema

In February 1935 Ronald Sutton and Charles Owen purchased the land that the Roxy now stands on from a man named John Campbell. They bought it with the intention of opening a new cinema, and within two short months their dream was nearly complete with thanks to the two architects, Guy Crick and Bruce Furce.
The theatre opened as the Roxy as we know it today on the 14^th of August 1935 with the film ‘Naughty Marietta’.
Four years later, the owners leased the business out to a Mr Edwin Potts who became a proprietor in 1944. Following his unfortunate death, his wife, Monica Potts assumed control of the business and married a man named Frank O’Brien. In 1964, she was driven to close down for ten months due to the popularity of television, and the declining popularity of cinemas. She re opened on the 27^th of November ’64 and ran for another 12 years. 

During this time, Mr Robert Brainwood, who left the drive in cinema business as he could see it was declining rapidly, entered into a lease with now Monica Woods, as she entered into her third marriage. She eventually sold out to him in 1976 because the rate to screen Jaws was 90 % of the profits that she was earning and he immediately started upgrading the cinema in a roman theme, inserting statues and pieces by local sculptors such as Charles Baker of Kangaroo Valley. Cinemas two and three used to be one big cinema, and when he came into possession of the cinema he split them up, and immediately abolished the segregation of blacks in the cinema. The previous refreshment area, we now know as the video games area/ function room where they hold children’s birthday parties, and the addition of a candy bar was a popular choice among the clientele . One of the original projectors was placed in the vestibule of the cinema near the toilets, and a funny story, the cinema purchased brass doors from the state cinema in Sydney, when they decided that they wanted them back- Mr Brainwood refused and the state cinema had to replace them with aluminium doors painted to match the brass colour. All in all, our beloved Roxy hasn’t changed much over the years, and we still get that original vibe whenever we go in there.

Published in 2005- written by Robert James Parkinson- see LH791.43/PAR in the Shoalhaven city Library, contribution from the Shoalhaven historical society.

Interview with Mr Robert Brainwood, owner of the Roxy cinema establishment.