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The Cathay Cineplex located at 2 Handy Road, near Dhoby Ghaut MRT station will shut down after its last day on June 26, 2022.

According to a press release on June 17, its last screening will be held on Sunday night, June 26.

Movies currently screening at Cathay Cineplex at The Cathay include "Top Gun: Maverick", "Jurassic World: Dominion" and "Ah Girls Go Army Again".

Business decision

According to Chang Long Jong, Group CEO for mm2 Asia, the company that operates the eight Cathay cineplexes in Singapore:

"The cinema’s closure was a business decision. Over the years, retail traffic demographics have changed. We have had to evaluate the commercial viability of operating two cinemas in the Orchard shopping belt within 1.5km of each other and within 300m of another multiplex."

The other Cathay cinema in the Orchard area is located at Cineleisure, 8 Grange Road (near Somerset MRT station). It will be "business as usual" for the remaining seven Cathay cinemas in Singapore, said Chang.

"We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our cinema patrons, studio partners and suppliers for their continued support. And we look forward to continuing to serve you at our Cathay Cineplexes locations across Singapore," he added.

Back in 2020, Cathay and Golden Village were in talks to merge their cinema business in Singapore.

mm2 Asia cited the Covid-19 pandemic as a reason for the downturn in the cinema industry over the past couple of years, as cinemas were first closed for several months, then allowed to reopen only at a reduced capacity.

While society transitions towards endemic Covid-19, and business has rebounded, it will go on without a cinema in one of the most historic buildings in Singapore.

The Cathay building has long been linked in Singapore's history to entertainment. It housed the first ever air-conditioned cinema, and the first cinema in Singapore to screen American and British films.

It is a protected monument which re-opened in its current form in 2006.

Projector pop-up moving in

On the same day, The Cathay announced that local independent cinema, The Projector will be taking the place of the outgoing Cathay Cineplex from Aug. 23 as a pop-up.

Known for its diverse and indie lineup of films, this will mark the third cinema to be operated by The Projector.

The new Projector cinema at The Cathay will be called Projector X: Picturehouse. This, said The Cathay, is a tribute to the building’s arthouse cinema past.

Aside from films, Projector X will screen live theatre productions, performing arts and live music.

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Top image from The Cathay Organisation.