Majestic Cinemas has gone into voluntary administration leaving the future of several beloved Mid North Coast venues up in the air.

Majestic's CEO maintains the business isn’t going anywhere- and has urged communities to support their local cinemas.

The business operates theatres in Nambour, Port Macquarie, Inverell, Nambucca, Wynnum, Kempsey, Singleton, Sawtell, and Nelson Bay, providing a movie-going experience in many regions without a big-name multiplex.

A new FAQ section on the Majestic Cinemas website states the business is seeking to restructure, and that “at this stage” all of its theatres remain open to customers.

Gift card holders, who would usually be considered unsecured creditors in an administration, can redeem their unused gift cards through matched cash spending.

The administration arrives after what Majestic Cinemas founder and CEO Kieren Dell described as a “pretty dire” 2023 for cinemas across Australia.

Speaking in July last year, when the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon inspired an exceptional burst of ticket sales at cinemas nationwide, Dell said cinemas were hard-hit by broader economic constraints.

“Everyone thinks that COVID was a tough time, but in fact, the last financial year was probably one of the hardest for independent cinemas, because there was no government support, no landlord support, and no bank support,” he said.

Looking beyond the success of Barbie and Oppenheimer, Dell said box office revenues at independent cinemas outside of Sydney and Melbourne fell in 2023.

“It’s been pretty tough times,” he continued.

“We need two things: we need these big movies to release, which is exactly what’s happened, and we need a stream of movies from here onwards to encourage people to come back to the cinema.”

Video By | Marina Trajkovich