[a] Under Robert, the Dendy cinema brand spread first into the city in Collins Street, then across the suburbs and interstate.

[5] In 1967 Ward was approached by Mark Josem, owner of the only independently-owned drive-in cinema in Melbourne, leading to the establishment of Filmways Australasian Distributors, a company which started out distributing arthouse films films for independent cinemas.

[11] After a long takeover bid, Mel Gibson's company Icon Film Distribution paid Prime $21 million for the cinema chain in 2008.

[12][13][14] At the time, Dendy was Australia's largest independent film distributor and art house cinema chain.

[1] Dendy Martin Place, a single-screen cinema, opened in 1981 screening Stepping Out, a documentary by Chris Noonan.

[17] In September 2003, as one of the few single-screen cinemas left in Sydney, it closed its doors for the last time, its last film being Reservoir Dogs.

[citation needed] Lyn McCarthy and Graham Tubbenhauer launched a Dendy Cinema in 1990 on Edward Street.

[36] Dendy Direct was shut down on 14 May, 2018 amid pressure from other competing streaming services such as Netflix and Stan.