More movie-goers enjoy a big screen experience at Gateway Theatre of Shopping, the Umhlanga retail and entertainment centre which opened in September last year, than at any other venue in South Africa.

Gateway which boasts a Ster Kinekor 18-screen multiplex, five Cinema Nouveaux as well as an Imax Theatre is now firmly entrenched as the country's top movie destination, says Brent Wiltshire, retail property executive of Old Mutual Properties, the developers.

Frisky Domingues, chief operating officer of Ster-Kinekor, says that it was important for the cinema chain to position itself for the northward growth of the greater Durban area.

'Research into the opportunity provided by the development of Gateway suggested some targets could be achieved by 2003. We were delighted we could achieve these targets much earlier than anticipated.'

Gateway has now overtaken two other complexes managed by Old Mutual Properties, Cavendish Square in Claremont, Cape Town, previously the top destination, and Menlyn Park Shopping Centre in Pretoria as the premier movie-goer complex in the country.

In the 12 months to September, Gateway attracted 1 173 858 movie-goers, Cavendish Square drew 1 092 828 and Menlyn Park 1 063 372.

'Gateway and Menlyn Park both have Imax theatres and if one adds attendances there the 12-month figures respectively exceed 1,34 million and 1,2 million,' says Wiltshire.

The next most popular cinema venues over nine months to September were complexes in Rosebank, Johannesburg, Brooklyn in Pretoria and the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town.

Wiltshire says Gateway attracts an average 1,46 million visitors a month and takes the successful formula mixing leisure, shopping and entertainment to a new level, with 40% of its entire area devoted to entertainment.

Apart from its cinemas, Gateway's other entertainment attractions include the Barnyard Theatre for live perfomances, the Wave House which has a double curling left/right standing wave for board riders as well as a skate park, the world's tallest indoor climbing rock, a range of restaurants, a family entertainment centre, a science centre, and a 4 x 4 track.

Wiltshire says research shows that entertainment offerings along with extended trading hours prompt visitors to spend an average of 165 minutes at Gateway, 158 minutes at Menlyn Park and 147 minutes at Cavendish Square, all of which offer extended trading hours.

'The research indicates night trading is taking on increasing prominence. This is in line with an international trend for 30% of moviegoers to make other purchases in the centres they visit.'

ISSUED FOR Old Mutual Properties

BY De K&K Communication Consultants