Macao’s only IMAX cinema, UA Cinema, has been renamed Galaxy Cinema after the Hong Kong-based cinema chain closed all its facilities in Hong Kong and filed for liquidation earlier last month. Galaxy Entertainment Group has told Allin Media that it has no plan to close the movie theatre and vows to continue to offer incomparable services to moviegoers.
According to informed sources, however, the movie theatre located at Galaxy Macau has been making losses since the Covid-19 pandemic as falling visitor arrivals and social distancing requirements have all led to a drastic drop in the number of moviegoers. At present, most of the tickets sold at the theatre are in fact complimentary tickets redeemed through insurance provider AIA’s promotion scheme. The ticket redemption scheme under AIA Vitality was launched two years ago.
Apart from poor box office sales, the screening of the latest movies at Galaxy Cinema has been slow since last year and sometimes old movies are screened instead.
The embattled facility is set to face competition from a newcomer on the movie-screening market. Emperor Cinemas is going to open a state-of-the-art facility with nine theatres that provide a total of 1,200 seats at the Lisboeta in Cotai. It will be the first ever cinema in Macau to offer moviegoers the IMAX with Laser experience.
