Garden City Cinemas reopens with spotlight on Indian-language films

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This article was published 21/02/2025 (222 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bollywood calls — and Garden City is answering.

After 15 years, Garden City Cinemas has reopened its doors. Friday night marked the two-screen theatre’s first new showings.

Films in Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam fill the roster. A variety of movies, including Hollywood’s English blockbusters, will be added as the theatre ramps up operations, its manager said.

“I’m just excited to have another option for movie viewing in this half of the city,” Thomas Oberlin said.

He started as manager in November. Garden City Cinemas advertised job openings nearly a year ago; renovations delayed the reopening, Oberlin said.

By his account, parent company Albion Cinemas acquired the Garden City Shopping Centre site around 2020 and paused plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several theatres across Canada are linked to Albion Cinemas, including York and Woodside in Ontario. The theatres show Indian-language movies.

Cineplex ran Garden City Cinemas until 2010. At the time, the site was cemented in the past — old-style sloped floors in a world of bleacher seating. Cineplex didn’t renew its lease because the space didn’t mesh with the company’s modern facilities, it previously told the Free Press.

Albion dove into renovations. All 374 seats are new leather recliners, Oberlin said. The sound system and screens, washrooms and concession stand — all have been redone.

Oberlin wasn’t sure of the renewal’s price tag. “I don’t really want to know,” he joked.

He grew up watching Star Wars films at Garden City Cinemas.

“Lots of community members know this space has just been sitting here,” Oberlin said. “I think the community is ready for something different.”

Navdeep Matharu, who works in the mall, is excited to watch Punjabi movies close to home. She typically travels with her family to Scotiabank Theatre near CF Polo Park, catching select films at select times.

Having Garden City Cinemas open is “great,” she said: “Instead of going too far, it’s here.”

Daphne Klassen expects the theatre’s opening will draw new customers to the McPhillips Street shopping centre and, she hopes, the Smitty’s restaurant inside.

“Just the area, how multicultural it is, I think it would be a good opportunity for the mall,” said the Smitty’s general manager.

Nearly 44 per cent of Garden City’s 6,470 residents spoke Tagalog in 2021, a City of Winnipeg 2021 census document shows. Eight per cent spoke Punjabi.

Klassen’s staff speak Tamil, Punjabi and Tagalog. They and customers have been awaiting the movie theatre’s reopening, she said. (She understands Hindi and Tagalog and plans to catch some flicks across the hall, too.)

Garden City Cinemas reopening is “very, very welcome,” said Priyanka Singh, the India Association of Manitoba’s president.

Much of the city’s growing Indian population lives near Garden City; the theatre location is well-chosen, Singh said Friday. Further, there are many Bollywood films to cover — different regions within India have their own languages and movies. Few theatres in Winnipeg show these films.

“The community is thrilled,” Singh said of the theatre’s launch.

Tickets are bookable on Garden City Cinemas’ website. All tickets are $2.99 until Feb. 27. Afterwards, prices will vary based on the language, but will generally stay under $10, Oberlin said.

The theatre has five staff and may hire more in the coming months. Vidaamuyarchi, a Tamil-language thriller, and Daveed, a Malayalam-language action movie, are now playing.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com