The historic The Cathay Cineplex located at 2 Handy Road, will be closing down on 27 June, with a pop-up by independent cinema operator The Projector taking over the space left behind.
mm2 Asia, the media company that runs the Cathay Cineplex cinema chains in Singapore, described the closing down of The Cathay as part of their “cost rationalisation process”.
The group chief executive for mm2 Asia, Chang Long Jong, said that the closure of The Cathay was a “business decision”, and that the retail traffic demographics have changed over the years.
As such, they had to evaluate whether it was viable commercially to have two cinemas along the Orchard shopping belt within 1.5km of each other and within 300m of another cinema.
Chang added that business will go on as usual at their other outlets.
The other shops and restaurants at The Cathay’s building will carry on operating as usual and will not be affected by the closure of the cinema.
The space that will be left behind by The Cathay will be taken over by The Projector from 23 August, a pop-up outlet.
It will be named Projector X: Picturehouse and will be used for films, live performances and will even have a cocktail and craft beer bar.
Found of The Projector, Karen Tan, said that her team is “super stoked” to be taking over the space at The Cathay, calling the venue an “iconic grand dame with a storied past”.