Australia's historic cinemas defy the streaming craze

Audiences continue to flock to surviving art deco picture houses

Built in 1935, the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace cuts an impressive art deco figure in the Sydney suburb of Cremorne. (Photo by Peter Sheridan)

CAT WOODS, Contributing writer

October 3, 2024 08:00 JST

MELBOURNE -- The marvel of cinema is an ongoing story of evolution, and in Australia reflects vestiges of an Anglophilic past. Over the last century it has transitioned from film to digital, and from black and white to color. Now, streaming has become the new normal, with 7.8 million Australian households -- representing nearly three-quarters of the population -- subscribing to at least one video-on-demand service, according to Kantar Worldpanel, a U.K.-based market data provider.