THE curtains will part today on a new £60,000 screen which could transform the movie-going experience at Christchurch’s Regent Centre.

Audiences for today’s showings of Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody should see the 32ft wide picture look substantially brighter and sharper.

The new screen was built in Canada to specifications laid down by the venue and was imported via Southampton docks earlier this week.

Gary Trinder, chairman of the Regent Trust, said the centre’s old screen had started to present mechanical problems when it was rolled down between a live show and a film screening. There were also folds starting to show when films were projected.

“A decision was made to buy a new screen. The specifications of the new screen are far higher than the old one,” he said.

“I’m fairly excited myself to see what the new one is like and I’m sure people will notice the difference, even if you’re not a technologist.

“The big thing will be that it’s a new screen so that it’s great at reflecting images and it has black masking all around, so the image will be much sharper and brighter."

Four technicians were still on the site on Thursday getting the new screen ready. “They were saying it will look like you’ve had a brand new projector as well,” said Mr Trinder.

There are no cinema screen manufacturers left in the UK so a Canadian company was picked for the job.

“The specifications took six months to put together for this screen, toing and froing between the Regent and people in Canada,” said Mr Trinder.

“It’s been imported at Southampton and was brought down here on Monday on an articulated lorry.”

The screen has been installed by Powell Cinema Engineers and, like its predecessor, will be rolled down by electric motors.

The upgrade was planned before the first Covid lockdowns forced entertainment venues to close. The centre was kept afloat during the pandemic by a total of £370,000 in grants from the British Film Institute.

“The grants we were given meant we came out of Covid as healthy as we had gone into Covid. It was because they felt it was a viable business and they supported it to the tune of making up for our losses,” said Mr Trinder.

The Regent is stepping up its film programming, which includes its Kids Club weekend films at £3.50 a ticket and its Silver Screen season of recent releases for £5 including a hot drink.

It also hosts the Dirt in the Gate season of classics and cult movies shown on traditional 35mm film.