CINEMA entered a new era at one of the region's cities on Thursday with the first screenings of Hollywood film X-Men 2.

Durham has been without a cinema since the closure of The Robins, in January. But the city council, which approved a plan to convert The Robins into an Australian theme bar, has opened a 116-seat cinema at the city's Gala Theatre.

The one-screen cinema has been showing Sacred Journey, a history of the city made by local producer Brendan Quayle, but now the council has bought a 35mm projector.

A deal has been struck with a distributor to obtain the latest releases and the theatre management is hoping the venue will be a big success.

A spokesman said: "We have been told we will be getting Matrix 2 when it is released on the basis of our presales so far," said a spokesman.

The council's environmental services director, John Jennings, said he was delighted the cinema was open and hoped it would be a great success. He rejected claims about the council's role in the Robins' demise, saying: "People have made a lot of capital out of it but it isn't true.

"The cinema was closed by the Robins company in conjunction with the building's owners."

X-Men 2 runs for two weeks and will be shown at 1.45pm, 4.40pm and 8.15pm, with tickets priced at £4.75 and concessions £3.60. Admission is £3 on Mondays, except bank holiday.

Sacred Journey will be shown every day at 11am and noon.

The box office can be contacted on 0191-332 4041.