Yarraville’s Sun Theatre has made a global magazine’s list of the 50 most beautiful cinemas in the world, and the tale of its rebirth is a true love story.
Time Out placed the pint-sized theatre at No. 44, stating it was one of the reasons Yarraville was named the fifth coolest neighbourhood in the world in 2020.
“It opened as a single-screen, 1050-seat cinema in 1938 and after a storied history of closures (it was once closed by the health department for unsanitary carpets), changing hands and expansions, the beautiful Deco building was refurbished in the late ’90s and now holds eight separate cinemas, each named after a now-closed cinema from Melbourne’s history,” the listing states.
“There’s a welcome breadth of arthouse and foreign films on the program, and the house-made choc tops (a favourite Aussie cinema snack of chocolate-dipped ice cream) are second to none.”
Owner Michael Smith said it was love at first sight when he first saw the theatre in its former decrepit state.
“My wife and I bought the cinema back in the mid-90s when it was derelict,” he said.
“Most of the roof had fallen in. It was full of graffiti. Much of it had been burnt out.
“I saw the building was for sale and I crawled in through a hole in the back wall and I just fell in love with the old Art Deco details. I thought it was magical.
“They say love is blind and I completely looked past how much work it was going to be to put it back together.”
That work would end up taking years but it was a painstaking labour of love.
“We did it almost like home renovators, doing bit by bit as we could afford it,” Mr Smith said.
“We actually started with one screen in a very hokey way, where we didn’t even have heating and cooling so we gave people blankets when they came to the cinema.
“As numbers increased, we added another screen and then another screen, to the point where today we have eight cinemas here.”
Mr Smith said the Time Out listing cheered him up immensely after a difficult period where the theatre was closed for seven months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have had such a tough year and to see that pop up in the morning news absolutely made our day,” he said.
“And it confirmed what the people of the west have known all along.
“We so often see people say on socials, ‘It’s our favourite cinema’, but to see someone in London actually pick up on that and name us in amongst the best in the world felt really special.
“We are here trying harder than ever to be the best local cinema we can.
“We really embrace and love being part of the local community and we want everyone to think of the Sun as an extension of their home and that it’s as comfy as their lounge room and somewhere to go for a great night out.”
