Remembering Lang Masters (1931-2023)

We were saddened to learn that Lang Masters, aged 92, recently passed away while on holiday in Zurich, Switzerland. 

Lang was born in 1931, two years after "talkies" (films featuring sound) made their advent in Christchurch. His love of films began early in life, and he opened his first cinema in a garage at age 12. When he was 18, he moved to Wellington to work for MGM and learned how to acquire a cinema license. After returning to Christchurch, he toured local halls in Harewood and Halswell, with his own projection equipment carried in a cart attached to a bicycle. Later, the purchase of a car allowed him to expand his operations, taking his cinema to Lincoln, Southbridge, and Diamond Harbour.

In 1962, he leased the Lido Theatre in New Brighton after the owners had closed it down. In that same year, he purchased the Hollywood Cinema in Sumner (which had first opened in 1938). Others soon followed including Barclay (1963), Harbourlight (1964), Stagedoor (1976), Roxy (1977), Academy (1978) and Northside (1980).

Lang soon became a thorn in the side of the established cinema chains and when he attempted to set up an arthouse cinema in the central city in 1963, he faced opposition from Kerridge and Amalgamated. However, he was eventually able to open the Avenue in 1967.

Lang was assisted in his empire building by his wife, Maureen. Later in life, they sold their cinemas, but retained ownership of the Hollywood Cinema. Maureen passed away in 2020. Lang sold the Hollywood Cinema in February 2022 but remained working there until the deed of ownership was transferred. 

Sarah, one of our Community Stories Liaisons, recognised the historic importance of Lang Masters and the Hollywood Cinema. In 2022, she established a partnership with him to preserve memories of his life and the cinema. Sarah recalls that Lang was always so open with her and happy to share his stories. Sadly, he was often so busy that he never had time to stop and photograph the cinemas he owned. He did, however, invite her to visit the Hollywood Cinema and gave her a tour. Many of the photographs taken during this tour, along with subsequent visits, became the core of the Lang Masters collection in our digital heritage repository, Canterbury Stories.

Lang was kind enough to record an interview with me at Matuku Takotako: Sumner Centre in September 2022. 

In October 2022, Lang finally retired. To honour him, the community of Sumner held a red carpet ceremony at the cinema and awarded Lang the Sumner Hero Award. 

My memory of Lang Masters was that of a gentleman who had lived through the golden age of cinema. On the surface, he seemed unaffected by the advent of streaming services, and remained devoted to providing people with an authentic movie experience. As an iconic figure in Sumner, he will surely be missed.