HOLLYWOOD blockbusters are “here to stay” despite plans to turn a county’s main cinema into an art house venue, a council chief has promised.

When Durham County Council announced its desire to outsource running the Gala Theatre cinema to an outside group prepared to show more independent, art house and foreign language films last week, fears were raised Durham would be left without a mainstream cinema.

However, Terry Collins, the council’s corporate director for neighbourhood services, said he hoped the venue would show more blockbusters in future, not fewer.

“This isn’t about taking away blockbusters, it’s about extending the programme,” Mr Collins told a cabinet meeting at Durham’s County Hall today (Wednesday, October 15).

“Hopefully we’ll have more blockbusters coming to the city, but also serving a wider selection of tastes, with a whole mixture and a wide range.

“Blockbusters will be here to stay, that’s for sure.”

The Gala’s two 3D digital screens need modernising and the council, while seeking to save £200,000 a year from its running costs, also hopes more screens will be built.

That depends on finding up to £3m in private investment and the authority will now start looking for a “well-established and successful” cinema partner.

That partner would also take over running the cinema programme at Bishop Auckland Town Hall, which is currently limited to DVD projections and shows only about 45 films a year.

Council leader Simon Henig said there was a lot of potential at both venues and the ongoing Durham Book Festival had shown how many people could be attracted to the city.

“I’m sure this will allow us to move forward and hopefully maximise that potential we all know is there,” he said.

There have been persistent rumours of a new multiplex cinema for Durham, on Claypath, Dragonville or Framwellgate Waterside, but none have yet borne fruit.

The council wants to use the development of the Gala to turn Millennium Place into a vibrant cultural and leisure quarter.

But it faces a tough job, as Durham Police recently described nearby Claypath as “like the Wild West” on Friday and Saturday nights.