SINGAPORE – Filmgarde Cineplexes has introduced that it’s going to shut two of its three cinemas within the coming months.
When the leases for the Filmgarde cinemas at Bugis+ and Century Sq. expire within the first quarter of this 12 months (2022), they are going to be closed, with employees redeployed throughout different operations within the firm’s property and hospitality companies, in keeping with a press assertion.
Filmgarde is owned by Hansfort Funding, which additionally owns and manages the Joyden Corridor occasion area.
The closures are a part of a “new transformative highway map” for the corporate that displays altering traits within the business.
Plans for the remaining third cinema at Leisure Park Kallang will probably be introduced later.
Mr Sherman Ong, head of cinema operations at Filmgarde mentioned within the assertion that the closures come amid a basic decline in cinema attendance since 2013.
“That is despite a rise within the variety of screens and seating capability over the identical interval,” he mentioned.
The onset of pandemic precautions in 2020, which noticed seating capacities roughly minimize by half to satisfy social-distancing rules, “accelerated and exacerbated these traits”.
Singapore’s cinema-going habits have additionally been hit by the arrival of streaming platforms, which have altered film consumption patterns, he added.
Filmgarde, arrange in 2007, was recognized for being a small operator overshadowed by bigger and extra established gamers similar to Golden Village, Shaw Theatres and Cathay Cineplexes. Through the years, it made its mark by supporting the screenings of Singapore film-makers similar to Daniel Hui, Remi M. Sali and Tan Pin Pin in addition to internet hosting occasions held by the Singapore Worldwide Movie Pageant.
In 2018, when Oscar-winning Mexican film-maker Alfonso Cuaron visited Singapore to attend a cinema screening of his drama Roma, Filmgarde Bugis+ was chosen for the occasion.
In March, Filmgarde plans to launch a collection of pictures journals to commemorate its 15 years in operation.
