A night at the movies – catch the latest Hollywood offerings
A night at the movies – catch the latest Hollywood offerings | ||||
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There was a time when going to a movie in Penang meant going to the cinema or theatre, or as some local folks called it, the panggung wayang. These cinemas were huge two-storied buildings, some in an elegant art-deco style (Rex in Burmah Road and Cathay in Penang Road for example), where only one movie was screened at any one time, about four times a day. Tickets sold were torn from a small perforated booklet, while coloured pencils were used to mark out seats sold on a sheet of the cinema's floorplan. While the older and smaller cinemas used ceiling fans to cool the air, most of the urban ones had air-conditioners, a candy shop and bar. Tickets were priced according to 'class' – 1st class meant upstairs, 2nd class was downstairs towards the rear and 3rd class meant sitting close to the screen, with your neck craned upwards in order to watch. In the postcard on the top right, the movie poster on the Cathay wall, Anastasia (starring the late Yul Bryner and Ingrid Bergman) was a big hit in 1956. How different things looked then! During the twilight of the cinemas, audience attendance dwindled to a trickle, posters faded on the walls as the shows never came and hygiene was at an all-time low. The stage was set, and the time had come for the mighty cineplexes to make an appearance in Penang. Cineplexes were a far cry from the panggung wayangs. From the fancy lobby to the computerised selling of tickets and choosing of seats, cinema going was never the same again. For starters, cineplexes screen at least four movies concurrently. They were almost always the latest offerings from Hollywood, Bollywood, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. Cineplexes accept phone bookings but you must collect your ticket an hour before showtime. Popcorn, carbonated drinks and other foods are available at the lobby and cineplex café. Unlike in the cinemas of yore, you are not allowed to bring in your own food, like kacang puteh, roasted chicken rump, grilled meats, KFC, roadside burgers, fresh and preserved fruits, ice cream and dried cuttlefish. To cut a long story short, you can only snack on what the cineplex sells. Other items that you can buy from the modern cineplexes are cute (and rather costly) movie memorabilia like cups, t-shirts, caps, posters, keychains and others. These days, movie merchandising is big business for the movie producers and cineplexes, capitalising on both the movie's popularity (like Star Wars, Spiderman and Disney characters) and also the huge profit margins of the products. Third party sponsors have also gotten into the game by placing huge billboards in prominent places advertising the movie and the sponsor's name. Some cineplexes also hand out little freebies like movie postcard as promotional items for forthcoming movies. Promotions are also held regularly. To find out what's happening at the Cineplexes, call the respective outlets. Mega Pavilion Sdn Bhd Upper Penang Road The last surviving movie theatre in Penang screens only the latest Bollywood movies. | ||||
