Village Cinema

Tauranga is a harbourside city in the Bay of Plenty region on the North Island. The Tauranga Historic Village, formerly the Tauranga Historic Village and District Museum, opened to the public in December 1976. It contains a collection of original and replica early Tauranga historical buildings. It was designed as a village-style museum, and replaced the much smaller Tauranga District Museum. It was officially opened on 2nd May 1977 by Governor General Sir Denis Blundell.

The site upon which the Historic Village was built had previously been swampland covered in scrub, and extensive work was completed in draining the land and clearing the vegetation. The low-lying area is still prone to occasional flooding.

In 1989 Compass Community Trust took over operation of the site. It became the Compass Community Village but, in 2005, Tauranga City Council took back its management.

The building that is now the Village Cinema began life as a vintage car museum, but was converted into an ‘Electric Theatre’ around 2014. Around 2019 it was extensively refurbished. It is a wonderful recreation of a traditional picture house, with some lovely ‘theatrical’ touches such as the eye-catching murals down the side walls.

Film shows are not presented on a daily basis; they are more in the nature of special events. Until the Covid pandemic arrived the Cult Cinema Club presented shows in the Village Cinema, but these have yet to resume.

Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.