There were squeals of joy and laughter at Central Cinema last weekend even before the movie began, when a special advance screening of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was held for Central Otago families.

Cinema board co-chair Tracy Blackwell said the invitation-only screening for families who partnered with Uruuruwhenua Health was the first such event held at the cinema post-Covid. 

The movie opens to the general public on Monday (September 25).

“As a community cinema, part of our brief is to give back to the community and the event was really centred around families,” she said. 

“We wanted them to come and have a wonderful experience.”

Children were encouraged to dress up, green balloons were adorned with ribbons as masks to represent the ninja turtles, and Tracy and the other two members of the cinema’s marketing team wore costumes themselves. 

The cinema is fully run by volunteers, many of whom, like Tracy, perform more than one role.

“It went really, really well,” she said. 

“There were lots of squeals and laughter in the foyer, where there were spot prizes, lucky dips and random ticket draws for prizes and vouchers.”

Following such a successful event, the cinema would “absolutely” host more of the same, and looked forward to doing so taking forward the lessons learned from the event, Tracy said.