Follow along on Facebook

Hey SEAMTP fans! Don't forget to "Like" us on Facebook. I have been steadily posting photos and other content there while the actual project is on hiatus.

Find the link here.

"South Korean Film Company to Build Cinemas in Yangon"

The Eleven

June 19th, 2013

"A South Korean film company, Noble Assets, plans to cooperate with local entrepreneurs to build more cineplex theaters in Yangon within this year, according to an official from Noble Assets.

Young Nae Yoo, a director with Noble Assets told The Daily Eleven that his company is interested in investing in the Myanmar film industry and has already made surveys of existing cineplex venues in Yangon.

"The difference between South Korea and Myanmar is that a theater in South Korea has at least 10 cineplexes so the audience can choose the films they want to watch. There are only about three theaters here so the quantity is very low," said Young Nae Yoo, director of new projects with Noble Assets.

According to him, the theaters will include at least 10 cineplexes to screen local and foreign films including Korean films.

"We will include at least 10 cineplexes per theater when we build them," he said.

According to last year's statistics from Myanmar Motion Picture Organisation, Myanmar had a total of 65 cinemas but some of them have now been torn down and rebuilt as shopping malls and condominiums with mini theaters.

Noble Assets Company operates cinemas in South Korea and has invested in eight Korean films and distributed two Korean dramas.

"If individual income rises in Myanmar, they would be able to spend more in the entertainment sector. That's why we are now trying to invest in the film industry," Yoo added."

Things to come

Regular readers of the Southeast Asia Movie Theater Project may have given up hope that any new material will ever be produced. Strike that thought from your brains! While the grant/sponsorship route to action is dismally dry, the DIY method is taking shape nicely.

There are currently two photography books being edited together for those who enjoy this project. The closer of the two to completion will be entitled "The Last of Thailand's Stand-Alone Movie Theater: A glimpse into a vanishing form," or something to that effect. It should be completed by the end of July.

A second book - dedicated to Burma's stand-alones and the culture surrounding them - is also in the works, yet in need of much more content to make it worth producing. That means more expeditions will be needed. What say we let sales of the first book subsidize more production for the second?

In the meantime, I'll try to keep a stream of relevant and/or interesting material related to this niche subject matter on the boards. Feel free to send a note if you feel so inclined. I usually reply. 

The Odeon Theater - Georgetown, Malaysia

A small mountain of guest material has been accruing in my inbox for several months. Posting them has been delayed due to mountains of work on the home front. Regrettably, none of that work involves documenting stand-alones myself. But that shouldn't stop you from enjoying the work of others. Here's one of them while I have a minute. 

These images of Georgetown, Malaysia's Odeon Theater were gifted by one the SEAMTP 's most devoted fans - Regis Madec - who writes that the Odeon is the only operating stand-alone theater left in the entire province of Penang. According to Mr. Madec, the boxy International Style picture house was erected in 1947, went out of business for a while years later, but was recently purchased and reopened by a group of Indian entrepreneurs who have since turned it into a Bollywood theater.

The Odeon's moniker is a classic name for a movie theater . Inspired by the ancient Greek word for amphitheater and meaning "singing place," the term has been applied over the years to some of the most luxurious movie theaters across Europe and the US. 

In Southeast Asia the name Odeon was no less common. The Odeon Cinema in Singapore was the flagship theater of the prolific Cathay theater chain. Other Odeons existed in Bangkok, Thailand and Vientiane, Laos. But those ones have all since closed down.

This Odeon, fortunately, is still in operation. 

Press among expatriates

A three page spread in Expat Ladies in Bangkok about the Southeast Asia Movie Theater Project.

Click on the link below and go to page 45 to read more.

Thonburi Rama Theater shows its final film

Barely one week after a Thai news special reported on the imminent closure of Bangkok's few remaining second-class movie theaters, one of them has already gone out of business. The Thonburi Rama on Charansanithwong Road was the most central of Bangkok's last 5 remaining second-class theaters. The 4 that remain are all on the city's outskirts, or in adjacent provinces.

While the report cited the inability of the theater's owner to pay for a much needed upgrade to digital projection systems, it seems more likely that land redevelopment pressures in the form of sky-rocketing land values was the prime motivator. Rumors abound that a Sky Train line may be coming to the area, which would make the old Thonburi Rama a vastly under-performing use of space compared with, say, a 30 story condominium or office tower. Stand-alone movie theaters, bare in mind, occupy sizable footprints. Theater owners are by default landlords on a large scale. And the fact that digital projection is a costly upgrade doesn't help things.

Needless to say, this marks another loss for Bangkok's movie-going culture of yore, which by now is almost completely beholden to shopping malls and 2 ubiquitous entertainment conglomerates - SF Cinema and Major Cineplex.

As for the remaining second-class, double feature theaters in Bangkok, one source says that the Nakorn Non Rama and the BMC Dao Khanong are likely to make the switch to digital - a switch that will hopefully prolong their existance as temples to leisure for a few more years.

Digital killed the stand-alone

According to this report, the last of Bangkok's 2nd-run movie theaters are under imminent threat of closure. The only way to stay competitive in the movie exhibition market these days it to upgrade to digital projection systems, but under-capitalized 2nd-run movie theaters can't afford the high cost of the upgrade. 

The report is in Thai, but there are some good shots of Bangkok's last operating stand-alones for those who can't understand.