Palace Cinemas is the fifth largest major cinema chain in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, with various locations in CBD and inner suburban areas of most capital cities. Palace Cinemas currently comprises 24 cinemas with 180 screens and more than 550 staff. Its head office is based in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

suburb of

South Yarra South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a popu ...

, close to its Cinema Como flagship. In 2015, the chain saved The Astor Theatre which remains the southern hemisphere's oldest continuously running single screen theatre.

Palace Cinemas

The Palace Cinema chain operates in most states, except

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

. They exhibit films of either a mainstream, classic or an

arthouse An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily ...

type, but the cinemas are usually focused on one film type or the other. The mainstream cinemas usually have several auditoriums that are fitted for projecting RealD 3D films, but unlike other major chains this is only on one or two dedicated screens. Initially Palace used

Dolby 3D Dolby 3D (formerly known as Dolby 3D Digital Cinema) is a marketing name for a system from Dolby Laboratories, Inc. to show three-dimensional motion pictures in a digital cinema. Technology Dolby 3D uses a Dolby Digital Cinema projector that ...

for several years before converting to the cheaper 3D format. Due to a recent decline in demand for the format, Palace now rarely shows films in 3D as of mid-2016. Palace operates several cinemas that originally opened as single-screen theatres, some of which have received heritage status. All, except for the heritage-protected

Astor Astor may refer to: People * Astor (surname) * Astor family, a wealthy 18th-century American family who became prominent in 20th-century British politics * Astor Bennett, a character in the Showtime television series ''Dexter'' * Ástor Piazzo ...

, have subsequently been renovated and internally converted to

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: * Multiplex (automobile), a former American car make * Multiplex (comics), a DC comic book supervillain * Multiplex (company), a global contracting and development company * Multiplex (assay), a biological assay which measu ...

, sometimes with the original screen, remaining as the largest auditorium/cinema at each venue. The original facades, box office, candy-bar and foyers in these historic venues have been modernised and restored with care. In the Melbourne suburb of

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, Palace operates two cinemas within 10 minutes' drive of each other, making it one of the only operators in Australia to own two indoor cinemas in the same suburb. Dendy Brighton, on Church Street, is more centralised in Brighton's main shopping strip, and therefore shows commercial films. Brighton Bay, is in another smaller shopping strip on Bay Street, in North Brighton, and plays mostly arthouse films. In late 2016, Palace shifted their head office to a new location and used the office space from old building to significantly expand, restore and renovate the original

Balwyn Balwyn () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Balwyn recorded a population of 13,495 at the 2021 census. White ...

location into an 11-screen multiplex with three fully licensed bars. The renovation preserved the

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many i ...

aspects of the building, and was the cinema's second restoration in under ten years. The Pentridge Cinema opened in 2020 in the shopping centre located inside the old

HM Prison Pentridge HM Prison Pentridge was an Australian prison that was first established in 1851 in Coburg, Victoria. The first prisoners arrived in 1851. The prison officially closed on 1 May 1997. Pentridge was often referred to as the "Bluestone College", ...

in the northern Melbourne suburb of

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...

. It was the first Palace Cinema to open with a

Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels, allowing sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal, nor verti ...

dedicated auditorium. In

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Palace Cinemas operates four cinemas, with two more under construction. They have two in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, one of which is the restored art-house Chauvel (Which mirrors the Astor in Melbourne programming) and the updated four screened Verona cinema. In the inner-west, Palace Cinemas also operates Norton Street cinema, which is its focus for its Italian film festival openings (due to the history of the

Leichhardt Leichhardt may refer to: * Division of Leichhardt, electoral District for the Australian House of Representatives * Leichhardt Highway, a highway of Queensland, Australia * Leichhardt Way, an Australian road route * Leichhardt, New South Wales, inn ...

). In 2017, Palace Cinemas opened its NSW flagship venue Palace Central, which has 10 normal screens and the first location of Palace Cinemas Palace Platinum, its first foray into premium content. Palace Cinemas is also constructing a cinema in

Byron Bay Byron Bay (Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah)'' is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia on Bundjalung Country. It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headla ...

and

Double Bay Double Bay is a harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of ...

, Sydney. Palace does not own the cinemas in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

outright, instead are owned and operated in partnership with Luna Cinemas. As such, the Perth cinemas are called "Luna Palace Cinemas" and have their own independent website, membership program and offers.Luna Palace Cinemas official website
/ref> Palace Cinema's regular nationwide membership and offers in other states, are therefore not necessarily valid at these cinemas. "Luna Palace" uniquely operates two seasonal outdoor cinemas, one in Leederville (opposite their traditional cinema) and one in

Mosman Park Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

. Kino Cinemas in Melbourne is also a partnership operation.

Locations

Adelaide

* Palace Nova Eastend, 12 screens ( Cinema Place), host of the

Adelaide Film Festival The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF, formerly ADLFF) is film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented biennially in March from 2003, since 2013 AFF has been held in October ...

from 2020 * Palace Nova Prospect, 14 screens (

Prospect Road Prospect Road is a north–south road in the inner north suburbs of Adelaide, Australia. Route The road commences at the intersection with Waldaree Street in the industrial suburb of Gepps Cross and heads directly south, crossing Grand Juncti ...

)

Brisbane

Palace Cinema James Street, Fortitude Valley 03

* Barracks * James Street (formerly Centro)

Byron Bay

Canberra

* Palace Electric

Melbourne

The Astor Theatre The Astor Theatre is a classic, single-screen revival movie theatre located in the inner Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, that has a long and illustrious history. The site at 1-3 Chapel Street was first used for public entertainment in 1913 when ...

(Classic films mostly) * Balwyn * Brighton Bay * Dendy Brighton * Pentrige Cinema (opened 2020, located in the new shopping centre in old Pentrige Prison, First Palace cinema with Dolby Atmos auditorium) * Cinema Como * The Kino (partnership) * Westgarth

Perth

Cinemas wholly under the Palace banner: * Raine Square Cinemas in partnership with Luna Cinemas. The outdoor cinemas run during the summer months only. LunaCinema gobeirne

* Luna Leederville * Luna on SX,

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

* Windsor Cinema, Nedlands * Luna Outdoor, Leederville * Camelot Outdoor,

Sydney

* Central *

Norton Street Norton Street is in the suburb of Leichhardt in Sydney, Australia. It is located 5 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the main commercial street in the suburb. Norton Street contains a mix of residential buildi ...

* Verona * The Chauvel Cinema