Northcote Point's Bridgeway Cinema is heading to market after four decades in the hands of Kelly Rogers and David Ross, the duo who turned it into the springboard for the Rialto cinema chain and distribution business. The sale comes just before the theatre marks its centenary in 2026.
Rogers, now 63, spotted the cinema as a 24-year-old back in 1987 after returning from London, where he'd cut his teeth working in theatres there. He roped in Ross, an accountant and friend of his father's, and the pair converted the single-screen venue into a four-cinema arthouse operation running several sessions daily, plus a full calendar of international film festivals covering Europe, Britain, Ireland and the South Pacific. Premieres got the full treatment too — at last year's Doc Edge festival, a soldier on horseback turned up for the screening of war documentary Devils on Horses.
The real empire-building came out of frustration. In the late 1980s, the big distributors controlled the major chains and refused to supply the independent Bridgeway. So Rogers flew to Cannes in 1989 and bought Auckland rights to the Palme d'Or winner Sex, Lies, and Videotape himself. Queues stretched out the door, and the playbook stuck: Rialto Distribution launched in 1993, with Rogers clocking 35 trips to Cannes — which he reckons is a New Zealand record. The company now sells films to New Zealand and Australian cinemas as well as Netflix, Amazon and HBO Max, and its recent horror thriller Obsession has pulled close to NZ$30 million across both countries.
The cinema building itself has lived several lives: it opened as the Onewa Picture Drome, later traded as the Palais and Kings Theatre, hosting dances and shows alongside the movies, and took the Bridgeway name in 1959 when the Harbour Bridge opened. It sits next to Italian restaurant Sfera and across the road from Northcote's much-loved bistro The Engine Room. Business broker Michelle Boag of Kauri Business Sales is handling the sale, having previously moved three other Ross and Rogers cinemas in Tauranga, Upper Hutt and Takapuna.
Ross, 85, says the 40-year partnership ran on handshakes and old-fashioned respect. Rogers, who spends much of his year at festivals acquiring films, says the timing is right to hand the venue to a new owner with the same passion for film. For Auckland cinephiles, the hope is that whoever buys it keeps the independent spirit intact — the buyer gets a going concern with Rialto content lined up to fill the screens. For travellers, it's another reason to detour to Northcote Point: dinner at The Engine Room, a film at a century-old local cinema, and harbour bridge views on the walk back.