Rio could get second screen by summer 2017 and a third by 2021
Executive director Oliver Meek reveals growth plans as he admits financial situation for iconic Dalston cinema is currently precarious
Expanding: Dalston’s Rio Cinema
Dalston’s iconic Rio Cinema could get a second screen as early as summer 2017, its executive director has said, and a third by 2021, as part of its ambitious new financial strategy.
Oliver Meek told the Hackney Citizen the cinema was seeking to raise £150,000 for the new 40-seater screening room in its 500 sq ft basement space via crowdfunding and another £50,000 to fully renovate the tired-looking exterior of the building, which was last done up in 1999.
The campaign, dubbed RIOgeneration, will officially launch in February and a third screen is likely to be in the pipeline as part of longer term plans to put the art deco cinema on a sound financial footing.
“We are going to put a second screen in the basement, and the one upstairs is part of a much longer term plan,” Meek said, but he added: “Rest assured, the Rio is never going to become a multiplex. That’s not going to happen. I think three screens is the optimum.”
The Rio’s basement space, which is set to host its second screen
There were apparently plans for a screening room in the Rio’s basement in the 1980s, but these were never put into practice.
The Rio’s management team also hope to reconfigure the cafe by 2021 to make it more attractive to cinemagoers.
Its financial situation is currently precarious, Meek admitted, but he said: “There have been improvements. We made a £12,000 profit this year, but the year before we lost £40,000, just before I arrived.
“Having a second screen will have a really transformative effect on our finances. The Rio’s audience numbers have been dropping off slightly, but people are opening cinemas, and it’s far from a dying industry.
“Star Wars this year broke all time box office records, so when the right films are available, which people want to see, they go to the cinema en masse.”
He added: “The climate has changed because of technology, and what people expect when they go to the cinema has changed. There are also many more films being released.
“Having another screen will allow us to give people more choice and also be a bit more adventurous in our programming.”
/ 23 December, 2016
Jason
December 23, 2016 at 11:31 pmGood work. Good to see someone really investing in the future of the cinema
marcia
December 24, 2016 at 6:19 pmI have been a Hackney resident since 1992 I always found it very disconcerting that the Rio cinema, due to obvious financial constraints, always appeared to struggle to be a significant elemental factor within Hackney’s Entertainment sector. Nearby, Cineworld in Woodgreen receives the bulk of the Hackney residents who wish to see a film that is not only current but also entertaining. What a pity that due to showing non current cinematic titles, people are left to seek their entertainment in other boroughs and also taking the vitally needed revenue with them. The level of shortsightedness, in showing films which cater to a minority of the residents- and I’m referring to films by international and independant artists, and many of the films came subtitled. This inevitably resulted in the mass exodus to cinemas outside of the borough. I am not against independant films or foreign films in general, I just find it mortifying the extent to which Hackney likes to revel in its non conformist reputation to its own detriment by showing films most people here don’t really want to see. So now that the Rio is under new management, we hope that with the expansion to a 2-3 screen venue, the films selected for showing will appeal to the local residents and beyond.
David Holland
January 3, 2017 at 11:58 amThe Rio should really do something about its signage – what a wasted opportunity to tell passers
by and bus passengers what’s on there. Can nobody climb a ladder ?