The small town of Wanaka doesn't have a traffic light but it does have a cineam. And not just any run of the mill cinema either, this is Cinema Paradiso. With only one screen you won't be confusing this with a multiplex. The theater features a range of different seats: from old airplane seats, to comfy couches, to a convertible Morris Minor, it's the character at Paradiso that captures people's hearts and makes them come back.
Oh, that, and the fresh, hot, huge, homemade cookies they bake for halfway through the film. Film stops for 10min, you get a toliet and refresher break, film goes on.
The theater sells a range of tasty dinner dishes for a reason price (about $12). They also sell bottled beer. Both beer and food are allowed in the theater. And then there are those freshly baked cookies I mentioned and homemade ice cream. About $5 a pop and worth every cent the cookies are straight from the oven and big enough to share (if you can let youself). Flavours include chocolate chunk and white chocolate and macadamia amoung others.
Paradiso shows a range of movies, including blockbusters and some arthouse films. However, it doesn't really matter what flick you pick. The fun is in experiencing the theater itself. .

It is rumoured that the Paradiso might be closing in 2008. If that's true get down there soon because if you miss out on a trip to the Paradiso, you miss out on one of Wanaka's most charming venues.
Movies run about $15 and show times vary, at least 2 different movies are shown per day.