Landmark theatre is back in the picture

After a $1.2 million renovation, the venue reopened in August as the Camp Hill Antique Centre and has been well received with its 70 antique dealers and popular TART Cafe. With the couple both involved in the movie industry, the refit design was heavily inspired by the building’s beginnings. The original ticket booth was restored into the kitchen and cafe servery with an impressive light box manufactured to set the scene. Images of Hollywood screen idols decorate the walls and films are screened on the original screen and among the displays. “The locals are really happy that the building didn’t fall into the hands of a developer, that it’s been restored,” Ms Walsh said. The building is zoned as neighbourhood centre, but has no heritage provisions. “You can demolish this building. A developer approached us six months after we bought it and put a contract in front of us,” Ms Walsh said. The Planet also featured theatre and bands on the small stage in front of the screen. One of their customers told them they saw The Bee Gees at the Planet. “We get a lot of customers saying they used to come here as a kid,” Ms Walsh said. “Every day someone tells us that they used to come here. We hear a lot from people saying they are so glad it has been restored.” After being forced out of their former Woolloongabba lease for a 20-storey apartment development, buying and restoring their own former picture theatre was a dream come true. Ms Walsh was an assistant director for 10 years on feature films and Mr Butler has seven ARIA nominations for Best Music Video Direction.

PLACE IN HISTORY * Built 1956 by independent theatre operator Roy Fielding and opened as Planet Picture Theatre * Fielding had grown his cinema chain to include the Boomerang Theatre at the corner of Ipswich Rd and Juliette St, Annerley (established 1924 and demolished in 1995), Mowbray Park Picture Palace open air picture theatre at East Brisbane (est 1915), the Hawthorne (est 1921) and the Odeon at Chardon’s Corner, Annerley (est 1939). * 1977 – Planet Theatre purchased by Pentecostal religious group Revival Centres International and became the church’s Brisbane headquarters * July 2015 – Purchased by Paul Butler and Sarah Jane Walsh * August 2017 – opens as Camp Hill Antique Centre