PORTLAND will soon be left without a movie theatre after Showbiz Enterprises decided to close its cinema operation.

The lack of a suitable venue has been the major factor after six years of operation in the city, and the last screening at the Portland Arts Centre will be at the end of July.

Five staff will lose their jobs, and moviegoers wanting to see films on the big screen will have to travel to Hamilton or Warrnambool for the nearest venue.

 Showbiz Enterprises director Andrew Taylor said being restricted to a single screen in a shared venue made Portland unviable.

“We’ve had a good go at it to try to make it work,” he said.

“But unfortunately single screen operations are difficult at the best of times… it’s also a shared space operation and despite everyone’s best efforts, there are just time we can’t play certain films because it just clashes with other bookings.

“That’s not to criticise anyone else, everyone’s worked really well together, but we’ve just had to come to that decision.

“We’re certainly very appreciative and the (Glenelg Shire Council) and (PAC) need to be given full marks, they’ve bent over backwards to try and make it work.”

Portland recently missed out on the blockbuster Jurassic World Dominion as the PAC was booked by the CEMA Theatre Group for its (subsequently cancelled due to a coronavirus outbreak) production Play On!

“We work in a global industry and when they come, they come,” Mr Taylor said.

“In terms of our business model our future is in larger complexes like Delacombe Town Centre (in Ballarat), there’s just no ability to set up something like that in Portland.

“Our Swan Hill location is a three-screen complex and it does extremely well, people call it the Tardis, they’re all surprised how much we get in there (a 100-seater and two 35-seaters in 485 square metres).

“We’ve had a fairly extensive look for something like that within Portland over the journey but with no result.”

While the coronavirus pandemic had an impact on the business, it had bounced back well since the easing of restrictions.

“We’re in a real purple patch at the moment,” Mr Taylor said.

“The nice benefit, if you could call it that, is there’s a backlog of film coming through.

“Portland has been going pretty good, Top Gun has done very, very well and we had a good summer, our numbers were quite good.

“Having said that there’s just not enough.”

Mr Taylor said he was unsure what it would take for a cinema to work in a single-screen theatre in Portland.

“They’re certainly welcome to try, I think no (it can’t work) but it depends on what their commercial circumstances are.”

A council spokeswoman said it would continue to work to attract a new provider “and is also advocating for funding to upgrade Portland's arts and entertainment infrastructure to make it more commercially viable to operate this service”.

Mayor Anita Rank said she was disappointed to see the cinema close but understood the reasons.

“Showbiz was committed to returning to operation in Portland after the industry faced financial hardship during COVID-19 lockdowns, but they have come to the realisation that they require an exclusive multi-screen business venue which offers general fit for cinema purpose for commercial success,” she said.

“On behalf of (the) council I thank Showbiz Enterprises for their service to the local community, providing access to the latest blockbuster movies for the past six years, the past two of which have been extremely challenging.

Twilight Cinemas began a trial commercial cinema operation out of the PAC in 2016.

After searching unsuccessfully for a suitable Portland venue to relocate its operation with an additional two screens, Showbiz Enterprises entered into a service agreement with the council at the PAC in 2018.

Showbiz Enterprises has twice been the recipient of significant federal government help for the Portland cinema in the past year.

In July 2021 it, along with two other cinemas in the Wannon electorate, received its share of $105,000 from the Supporting Cinemas’ Retention Endurance and Enhancement of Neighbourhoods (SCREEN) fund.

That was to help independent operators who had suffered a significant loss of income during the pandemic. In February this year it received $35,000 from the same fund to recover from the restrictions as well as work towards normal operations as those restrictions eased