Choice Of Movies At The Cinema

[whatsupdoc]

Last Friday I wanted to go to the cinema to see the latest Pixar movie "Up". Arrived at Major Cineplex, Airport Plaza around 17.30 hrs only to find out that there was just one (!) movie playing in all of their theatres, which of course wasn't "Up".

What is the point of having 7 or more theatres and the same movie is shown in all of them? It does not make much sense to me from either the customer's or a business point of view.

Next day I went to Kad Suan Kaew instead (after checking their time table) and although the number of different movies showing there wasn't much larger at least I could see "Up" (great animation film, by the way).

[BlackArtemis]

Not to derail, but are they going to release "The Hangover" over there? I was wondering about this after seeing it. If they do, the Thai subs are going to be no where close to what they are really saying.

[Sansai Sam]

Funny, I was there on Saturday and "UP" was in theatres 1 & 2 with the other movie in 3 through 7.

[uptheos]

Movies are mostly geared to the Thai's (after all this is Thailand) - cinemas are saturated with cartoons, animations, sci fi, ghosts, blood and gore and anything else that doesn't really require thinking about, careful listening (or reading subtitles) or meaningful dialogue.

[elektrified]

Last Friday I wanted to go to the cinema to see the latest Pixar movie "Up". Arrived at Major Cineplex, Airport Plaza around 17.30 hrs only to find out that there was just one (!) movie playing in all of their theatres, which of course wasn't "Up".

What is the point of having 7 or more theatres and the same movie is shown in all of them? It does not make much sense to me from either the customer's or a business point of view.

Next day I went to Kad Suan Kaew instead (after checking their time table) and although the number of different movies showing there wasn't much larger at least I could see "Up" (great animation film, by the way).

The last 3 times I went to Kad Suan Kaew to see a film, none of the films were in English or had English sub-titles!

[NancyL]

MovieSeer.com recently redesigned their website and it's much nicer and easier to use. Still, they list the times at Vista just for that day, and they don't seem to update them very early in the day. While the cinema at KSK definitely has "issues" (often showing movies only in Thai-dubbed with no subtitles, shabby theaters and disgusting bathrooms) at least they have their showtimes on MovieSeer several days in advance and accurately list if the movie is English or Thai soundtrack and the language of the subtitles. Plus, the tickets at KSK are cheaper and I save song thaew fare since it's within walking distance of home.

Incidentally, according to the Thomat Chiang Mai Film Blog, Vista may bring back Drag Me to .... (a very entertaining movie) later this week once the Transformer frenzy dies down. That shouldn't take too long, given the reviews that movie has received. I kind of want to see Drag Me again, this time from a different perspective. Originally, I took that story at face value, but I'd like to see if the film holds together if you instead think that the main character is going crazy and a group of people are out to scam her.

Oh yeah, saw "Up" this weekend at KSK. One of the best animated movies ever. Very touching. Afterwards I said to Hubby "Gee, that was a really physical role for Ed Asner to do at his age" and he had to remind me it was animated!

[Scrubber]

You do get the odd good movie at Major/Vista, but not very often. Maybe they get all the cr&ppy movies cheaper, but I think uptheos was right in post #4.

As NancyL mentioned new websites, is it just me, or does anyone else think the new Major Cineplex one is sh*ite?

Edited June 28, 2009 by Scrubber

[whatsupdoc]

Funny, I was there on Saturday and "UP" was in theatres 1 & 2 with the other movie in 3 through 7.

Yes, they still show Up, but not in the evening. After 17.00 it was only Transformer....

[harrry]

You are lucky you could see any movie Unlike the rest of KadSuanKaeu or Airport Plaza which are quite accessible and even have good disabled toilets the theatres are not accessible

[NancyL]

Yes, Harry, I've wondered how these theaters accomodate disabled people. I guess they don't -- no legal mandate to do so here. I did see some evidence of handicap consideration with the theaters in Bangkok. My Dad enjoyed going to movies in his waning years when he was in a wheelchair. He said the large screen and sound system made it easier to follow the plot. Makes you wonder how they got those seats into the theater in the first place. I guess a couple of Thais carried each one up the stairs instead of using a forktruck to move many at once.

And Scrubber, yes I agree. The new Vista website is sh*t (to use the American spelling!)

[Jingthing]

Yeah, they know their market and are not very interested in losing money to "educate" the market, so don't expect any change on this front. I am sure the violent and action Hollywood blockbusters are quite costly to get but worth it for the ticket sales. The last I heard House Rama art film house is still losing money, big time. Its too bad their location isn't more skytrain accessible. Major was running some of the academy award winners this year so they ran some more quality offerings during that time, such as Milk.

Edited June 29, 2009 by Jingthing