Star Cinema is aiming to become a visitor experience on par with Bendigo's most popular tourist attractions.
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The community cinema's plans for the next three years will be detailed in the coming weeks when Star Cinema releases its strategic plan.
Star Cinema business manager Martin Myles said the organisation wants to be one of the "must-do" things in central Victoria.
"One thing we would really like to achieve is to be on the map in terms of things to do in central Victoria," he said.
"We want to be up there with Bendigo Art Gallery, Central Deborah Mine and The Capital theatre."
The ambitious plan comes as the cinema celebrated its highest ever attendance numbers in a calendar year.
"The average attendance in past 12 months went from 30 people at an average screening, to an average of up to 37," Mr Myles said.
"It doesn't seem like much but over the course of a year it is huge.
"We have 80 seats on the ground floor and an additional 90 in the balcony. We have found we are resorting to using the balcony seats more and more over past 12 to 18 months.
"It is no longer uncommon to sell out the ground floor."
Star Cinema's strong performance in the past year comes as a resurgence given the cinema almost closed in 2017.
A Bums On Seats campaign aimed to raise $30,000 to keep Star Cinema afloat. The Eaglehawk community rallied and raised $71,000.
"Our (increase in) audiences definitely speaks to the fact were in dire straits to the end of 2017," Mr Myles said. "I'm sure it's no coincidence that the amazing audience figures is in response to the Bum on Seats campaign.
"We were very close to closing. It was touch and go, to use a cliche, for all of us here.
"The staff, the board and the volunteers were very nervous might be heading for permanent closure. It was relief followed by joy (when we hit the target)."
The huge amount of funds raised was helped by an anonymous donation of $32,000 from a patron.
It has seen Star Cinema work to improve the movie-going experience for its customers.
"That support has given us the scope to tackle projects on drawing but financially unachievable," Mr Myles said.
"We've had a number of fixture and fitting changes, the biggest and most important is being able to replace all our ageing couches."
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