IT’S out with the old and in with the new at the Regent Centre cinema as they go digital.

The centre has replaced the cinema’s 35mm celluloid film with state-of-the-art digital cinema.

And all this week the new digital cinema at the arts centre has been put to the test with the showing of The Artist.

Eliot Walker, general manager at Christchurch’s Regent Centre said: “We will have the best picture around with this state-of-the-art digital projection.

“It has taken us four years to get here – after a lot of fundraising and support from the community.

The Regent opened its doors to the public on Boxing Day 1931 and until around 1951, the cinema ran with highly flammable nitrate film, which explains why the projection box is isolated high on the Regent’s roof.

From 1951-2012 the film shown at the Regent was 35mm celluloid, which has now been replaced by digital film that will arrive on a hard drive and downloaded on to the digital projector for screening.

However, for the traditionalists, the Regent’s 35mm projector is being mothballed and kept on site for the time being.

The new technology will also enable the Regent to continue with its live satellite broadcasts to the big screen from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, National Theatre in London and Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow.

• Bill Oddie’s show has been postponed until Thursday, May 31.