Is Melbourne's Astor Theatre Saved for Good This Time?

What the hell is going on with the Astor Theatre?" is a refrain that has been echoed many, many times in Melbourne over the past few years by film lovers afraid that the city's best-known cinema palace was on the verge of closing.

For a long time, the Astor was the best place to go if you wanted to see a classic film the way it was meant to be seen. Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet all screened there in 70mm. Unconventional yet perfect doubles were the norm, as the theatre paired Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man with David Lynch's Lost Highway. The greats of cinema, from Alfred Hitchcock to the Marx Bros, were on regular rotation.

But things, as they so often do, changed. The tempting explanation is that audiences became less keen to experience older films on the big screen in the age of home cinemas and Netflix, but this is less of a factor than you might think. To know what really went on, you need to peek behind the curtain.

First things first: the Astor is not the building. The Astor is the business. The building doesn't have a name, or if it does, we don't know what it is. And realising that the Astor and the building are owned by different people is key to understanding the conflicts.

The building was purchased in 2007 by St Michael's Grammar, which was only a few doors down the road. The school wanted to use the space for plays and assemblies, and in accordance with the lease agreement, they had to actually hire the space back from the Astor when they wanted to use it.

When it became clear in 2012 that St Michael's might not allow the Astor to continue, the community rallied. Articles were written, petitions were signed. A protest was held. Cinephiles south of the Yarra converged to make it clear that they would not stand for the loss of this beloved institution.

Many had hoped that St Michael's would simply renew the Astor's lease – who better to maintain such a place than an educational institution? – but the school instead sold the building to Ralph Taranto, a man described at the time as the Astor's "white knight". That moniker would not last long.

At the time of the sale, Taranto insisted that the building would remain a single screen, that he was buying it for the love of cinema, that he planned for it to remain in the hands of the Astor's owner and manager, George Florence. From the outside, it seemed like everything was fine. On the inside, it was chaos.

What was happening behind the scenes was more shambolic than when St Michael's was the landlord. Relations between Taranto and Florence deteriorated as the pair argued over numerous issues, from who should pay the insurance to whether Taranto could access the building at his will. Taranto, who had offered a long-term lease to the Astor, withdrew his offer, and the two entities entered mediation to try to sort out their differences.

But this was not the only problem. The Astor itself had changed. The once-welcoming atmosphere of the cinema had increasingly taken on an elitist tone, and many attendees reported that the staff was becoming rude and abrasive. What was once a haven for all movie lovers now felt exclusionary and snobby, embodying every upturned-nose stereotype thrown at lovers of classic cinema.

The cinema, attempting to emulate the famous and hilarious anti-mobile phone campaign of the Alamo Drafthouse in Texas, soon took to wagging its fingers at patrons before the film had begun, with off-putting authoritarian speeches and absurdly strict rules about exactly when phones could and could not be used. Even those who loathe the use of phones in cinemas – most of the Astor's patrons – couldn't help but feel they were taking it all too far.

The Astor had long sold itself on its atmosphere. It could no longer trade on it.

Meanwhile, it was looking likely that the Astor's lease would soon expire without satisfactory resolution. This time, the crowds did not rally. The threat of the Astor's closure was now met with a resigned sigh by the community.

In the most telling twist of events, the relationship between the Astor and Friends of the Astor went sour.

Those who knew of Taranto's relationship with the Palace Cinemas chain — he was their landlord when they ran the George Cinema in St Kilda — began to suspect that Palace might soon be moving in.

These suspicions were confirmed when it was announced that Palace would not only be taking over the building's lease, but would be taking over the business as well. This particular twist was one few saw coming. But what did this mean? Was Palace going to be subletting to George Florence and The Astor? Would Palace own the Astor and hire Florence to run it? Or would it become a totally new rep cinema in name only?

As of today, we have the answers.

Palace's purchase of the Astor business includes the projector, the screen, and all the essential accoutrements that go along with it. The Astor will continue to hire film prints from George Florence and from Chapel Distribution, so there will be no change there. When it reopens in June, it'll be the Astor that its fans know and love. But Florence will not be staying on as the cinema's manager.

This is sad news in that Florence was not only the owner, but the soul of the place. For all the controversies, he kept the place running for decades, always behind the projector for the 35mm, 70mm and digital screenings, and his passion for his work can never, ever be doubted or questioned. His extraordinary legacy is more than assured.

But it's also good news, because you can't look at the tussles of the last few years without acknowledging that something needed to change. Fresh blood was needed. And it turns out it's the best of both worlds: the purchase of the Astor was so amicable, Florence has agreed to be a consultant, offering his help whenever it's needed.

So who exactly will be in charge? The personality behind the cinema is vitally important, and today Palace announced who will be taking over when it reopens in two months.

Who is he? (I'll get the disclosure out of the way first: he's a friend of mine. He's appeared on my film podcast, and for the past two years we've served together on the board of the Australian Film Critics Association.)

The Incoming General manager of the Astor will be Zak Hepburn, who's been involved in all aspects of Melbourne film culture for some time. He was a presenter on the Parallax film podcast, he's hosted numerous filmmaker Q&As, he's worked closely with film festivals, and he's curated his own cult film programs at Melbourne cinemas. Hell, he even co-founded a VHS label. But you might know him best as ABC24 News Breakfast's resident film reviewer.

Zak's enthusiastic love of cinema and his infectious, inclusive willingness to share it is what has made me most hopeful about this whole turn of events.

Having said that, it's natural to be wary about being optimistic when it comes to the Astor's future. After all, we were optimistic in 2007 and we were optimistic in 2012. But this arrangement feels far more stable than the previous years. This feels like a proper reboot.

Rep cinema is not easy to do. You've got to balance commercial interests against artistic, maintaining the spirit of vintage cinema but still lure audiences out of their homes and away from the multiplexes. There are other places in Melbourne that do it well — the Melbourne Cinemateque continues to impress and astound, for instance — but it's still a hard fight as more media and entertainment options become available to the public.

Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeZachariah