Golden Harvest's Grand Ocean Cinema in Tsim Sha Tsui to shut down – 5th theatre closure this year
Hong Kong cinema chain Golden Harvest is shuttering its Tsim Sha Tsui location – the fifth theatre in the city to close its doors this year.
Golden Harvest, which operates Grand Ocean Cinema on Canton Road near the Harbour City shopping mall, said in a statement on Wednesday that the theatre's last day of operations will be June 1 due to the end of its tenancy.
'Grand Ocean Cinema has been a landmark cinema in Tsim Sha Tsui, accompanying generations of movie fans and witnessing the passage of time through different eras of film,' it wrote in Chinese.
Golden Harvest thanked cinemagoers for their support and said it apologised for the inconvenience caused.
Opened in 1969, Grand Ocean Cinema – which has only one theatre house – is known for its giant screen. According to local media, the house once had over 1,700 seats, but the cinema downsized in the 1990s and now accommodates almost 460 people.
The closure of Grand Ocean Cinema will leave the chain with five cinemas. They are located in Shau Kei Wan, Olympic, Kowloon Bay, Tai Po and Tuen Mun.
Hong Kong has seen a string of cinema closures in recent years. Besides Grand Ocean Cinema, four theatres have also shuttered this year, including a cinema in Whampoa also run by Golden Harvest.
The theatre shut in April, the same month that Newport Theatre in Mong Kok closed.
In March, Sun Digital, a modern cinema that was part of the historic Cantonese opera venue Sunbeam Theatre, drew its curtains. Most recently, MCL Cinemas announced in May that it would shut its Grand Kornhill Cinema.
Last year, nine local cinemas closed as overall box office receipts in Hong Kong showed the weakest performance since 2011, according to figures compiled by Hong Kong Box Office Limited.
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