Why cinemas are still thriving in some countries – and it's not such an easy formula to copy

When independent cinema operator The Projector suddenly shuttered in August amid mounting debt, it triggered an avalanche of emotions from the cinephile community in Singapore.

Many reminisced on social media about films they had watched there, while others signed a petition asking authorities to save the 10-year-old cinema operator.

Industry players such as film distributor Vincent Quek noted how the theatre had not only been a place to watch arthouse films and documentaries, but was also a venue for events organised by and for niche communities. 

These included three iterations of the Singapore Independent Media Fair, a fundraising screening and adoption drive in support of the Cat Welfare Society and even drag shows. 

"So that's why I think The Projector’s closure hurt more than most," said the founder of film distribution company Anticipate Pictures.

Tears for The Projector had barely dried when the screen blacked out for yet another player – the Cathay Cineplexes cinema chain.

On Monday (Sept 1), its parent company mm2 Asia announced that it was putting its cineplex business in voluntary liquidation as it owed millions to landlords and other stakeholders.

This marked the culmination of not only years of financial woes – before closing its remaining four branches on Monday, Cathay had shuttered six cinemas in about three years – but also the demise of one of Singapore's oldest cinema chains, whose existence can be traced back to before World War II.

The one-two punch to cinema operators has sparked a debate, even some soul-searching, among film lovers over the future of movie theatres in Singapore.

Not least because these latest closures — following the earlier exits of a few other players, such as Eng Wah and Filmgarde in recent years —  suggest that the decline of cinema here follows a broader global trend of changing audience habits.

Global cinema attendance fell 8.8 per cent in 2024 from the previous year to 4.8 billion, the first annual decline since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the European Audiovisual Observatory. This is 68 per cent of 2019's cinema attendance, the final year before COVID-19 restrictions hit.

Many industry watchers have attributed the current state of affairs to the pandemic and proliferation of video streaming services. 

But last year's numbers were also dragged down in part by China's domestic cinematic slump as well as the 2023 writers' strikes in Hollywood, which delayed blockbusters that would otherwise have been scheduled for 2024.

Amid the global decline, movie theatres in Singapore registered an even bigger dip of 16 per cent, from 10 million in 2023 to 8.4 million last year. Compare that to its peak – cinema attendance here reached 22.13 million in 2011.

Though they acknowledged that cinemas in Singapore have seen much better days, industry players who spoke to CNA TODAY refused to be pessimistic about the future of the trade.

Singapore filmmaker and director M Raihan Halim, said: "Cinema has always faced struggles. For example, when you look back to the 1980s and the prevalence of VHS tapes – people did not go to the cinemas for a while.”

Audiences returned to the theatres when the novelty of VHS tapes wore off and they missed the experience of watching a movie on a big screen with fellow filmgoers, he added.

Throughout history, other forms of media have threatened movie theatres, but the cinema industry has always found ways to regain its momentum, industry players noted.

That the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) on its website still describes Singapore as having "one of the highest per capita cinema attendances in the world" bolsters their optimistic sentiment.

Indeed, the 2024 attendance numbers here still translated to about 1.39 tickets per person per year.

While this is behind France's 2.73 tickets per person per year and South Korea's 2.39, Singapore is still ahead of or relatively on par with other developed markets like Japan (1.17) and China (0.71).

Mr Kenneth Tan, chairman of the Singapore Film Society (SFS), struck an even more upbeat tone: "Yes, there are some outlets shuttering. This is to be expected from time to time in any retail sector, especially when rents are high and consumer choices are plentiful.

"(But) I would stake my entire career and reputation on this statement of confidence: Shakeouts will happen, but cinema will prevail."

Optimistic though his words may be, the question remains: How can cinemas here survive and thrive?

CNA TODAY looks at how some other countries have managed to keep the magic of the big screen alive after the pandemic and in the face of disruption from streaming platforms, and what Singapore could potentially learn from their examples.

THE CANNES MAGIC

When it comes to attendance at the big screens, Europe fares relatively better, clocking just a 1.7 per cent decline in ticket sales from 2023 to 2024.

But even within the continent, France, home of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, stands out for its density of cinemas per capita and high attendance rate. 

France's admissions went up by nearly a million – or 0.5 per cent – to 181.3 million from 2023 to last year, according to the French National Centre of Cinema. 

This was largely driven by local films, which reached its highest market share in 15 years of 44.4 per cent of admissions. Of the top 10 best performing movies in France last year, three were French productions.

Underlying all this is an appreciation for films that starts from the education system, experts said.

Mr Quek of Anticipate Pictures noted that in French public schools, students from the primary school level are given a list of films to watch.

The French government builds upon this with policies that support the film industry and cinema operators.

For instance, the French film Anatomy of a Fall was made with a budget of €6.2 million (US$7.24 million), of which about half came from public funding.

"Without this cultural exception, I wouldn't be here in front of you today," its director Justine Triet said as she received the Palme d'Or, the highest honour at the Cannes festival in 2023, French newspaper Le Monde reported.

Le Monde explained that the public financial support, among other things, comprised tax credits and "advanced" funding from a local broadcaster, which entitled the latter to exclusive television screening rights and a cut of the film's revenue.

To support cinema operators, the country has laws that require feature films to have a release window of 17 months before they can be put on a streaming platform, noted Ms Khoo Sim Eng, head of film studies at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

"It means people in France have a very long wait before a movie goes to streaming – so they catch it in cinemas instead. In contrast, in most other countries, the wait is quite short, so many people don’t mind waiting for the movie to go to a streaming platform."

France also provides direct subsidies to its cinemas to continually improve its programming and equipments, with special attention given to small and arthouse theatres.

"And this is why a cinema like The Projector would easily survive in Berlin or in Paris, because they get subsidies," said Associate Professor Christoph Hahnheiser from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

The associate professor of practice at the university's School of Art, Design and Media added that in Paris and several other European cities, there has been a longstanding emphasis of preserving culture and the arts, with films being an integral aspect.

Independent film programmer Phoebe Pua agreed, saying: "France’s steady return to pre-COVID levels of cinema attendance shows what happens when film is woven into national identity."

"Even in a streaming-saturated world, French audiences continue to show up in person. By contrast, in markets like the US, UK, and China, production is prolific but cinemas still struggle to fill seats," she added.

HOW A HOMOGENOUS POPULATION HELPS

Closer to Singapore, cinemas in Vietnam and Indonesia are also doing relatively well compared to the rest of the world.

Indonesia's cinema attendance jumped 10 per cent from 2023 to 126.22 million in 2024. In Vietnam, box office collection set a new record of US$184 million last year, up from US$150 million in 2023 and surpassing the pre-COVID 2019 collection of US$161 million.

Mr Joongshik Wang, EY's ASEAN technology, media & entertainment and telecom leader, said: "In markets like Vietnam and Indonesia, cinemas thrive because they are one of the more affordable leisure options.

"A young population and rapid mall development make them natural social anchors, while strong local films capture more than half the box office, compared with Hollywood blockbusters."

The relatively cheap tickets help too.

Mr Michael Kam, senior Lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s (NP) School of Film and Media Studies, noted that in markets such as Vietnam and Indonesia, cinema tickets are priced at the equivalent of S$2.20 and S$3.50 each, less than the cost of a Big Mac burger there at about S$4.

He added that these markets have the advantage of having a homogeneous language and culture. As a result, audiences tend to favour homegrown films. 

"This aspect has enabled some of these markets to recover faster and even thrive after the pandemic," Mr Kam said.

Another boost to the domestic film and cinema industries in these countries is that their movies are not typically available online.

Ms Khoo from SUSS noted: "Streamers are not much into Vietnamese-language originals yet, so if locals want content, they go to the cinemas."

In Indonesia, the strong demand for domestic films helped buoy box-office numbers last year despite the drop in Hollywood movie releases due to the 2023 writers' strikes. 

Similarly in Thailand, 2024 turned out to be a blockbuster year for the country's domestic film industry: Domestic films out-earned foreign films for the first time in its history, raking in some 54 per cent of box office revenues, as the country churned out international hits such as How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies.

The stellar showing by its domestic film producers is a source of optimism and pride for the overall movie industry, even though ticket sales have not yet recovered to pre-COVID levels in the country and are declining. Thailand's box office takings fell by about 11 per cent dip from 6.3 billion baht (US$195.7 million) in 2023 to 5.6 billion baht last year. In 2019, it stood at 8.5 billion baht.

The cost and language factors are two advantages that Singapore lacks compared to its neighbours, experts said.

Besides the movie theatres' higher operating costs, it also costs more to produce a film domestically, Mr Benjamin Ong said. He has been a freelance director of photography for about 10 years.

"In Singapore, I would say that a local production can have up to maybe 20 people – that's how much you can afford healthily. And these 20 people will fill (multiple) roles," he added. 

"But in other countries, it could easily go up to 40 or 60 for the same amount (of budget)."

Further, Singapore's small population limits the viability of large-scale productions. Ms Laura Chua from Nanyang Polytechnic said that this is compounded by the multi-racial nature of the community.

Ms Chua, who is the course manager for Nanyang Polytechnic's diploma in media and communication management, added: "This diversity, while culturally rich, makes it challenging to create broadly resonating local content compared to more demographically homogeneous markets."

Already contending with higher costs in general, Singapore filmmakers who want to produce films in their mother tongues must compete for a limited audience with international productions from more established industries such as China, Hong Kong, India and Malaysia.

Elsewhere, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) saw a growth in its cinema attendance last year, though experts attributed this to the nascency and recent liberation of the industry there.

"In the case of the UAE, the theatrical exhibition infrastructure is at relatively early stages (by international standards) of development," Mr Tan of SFS said. 

He added that Singapore also "saw an explosion of multiplex development with the arrival of Golden Village in the early 1990s about a decade after the Western world". 

Ms Khoo of SUSS noted that the UAE in 2021 replaced its censorship policy for films screened in cinemas with an age-rating system.

"This has resulted in a great interest in cinemagoing, especially since there is still censorship on streaming platforms, resulting in edited versions of global shows," she added.

STRONG FILMS NOT EQUAL TO  STRONG CINEMAS

Although having a strong filmmaking industry within a monolinguistic culture may have its advantages, it does not necessarily guarantee permanent success or growth.

Malaysia, despite having a large film industry and the widespread use of the Malay language in its multicultural society, has also been experiencing a decline in cinema attendance.

Admissions in 2024 dipped by about 6.6 per cent to 32.57 million, or about 41.8 per cent of Malaysia's 2019 cinema attendance levels.

Likewise, in South Korea, the number of cinema tickets sold slipped by about 1.6 per cent over the same period, from 125.1 million in 2023 to 123 million in 2024. This was about half of the 226.7 million tickets sold in 2019.

And this year could be even worse. The Korean Film Council estimated cinema attendance for the first half of this year to be around 42 million, or one-third fewer than the 62.93 million recorded for the first half of 2024.

Assoc Prof Hahnheiser of NTU said that one possible reason is that most of the media industry in South Korea has pivoted to producing television series for streaming platforms, rather than theatrical releases.

Indeed, the Korean Film Council noted that the top five major investment-distribution companies are cutting back on investments as well as theatrical releases – they are planning to release between 10 and 14 commercial films next year.

This is a drastic drop from the 35 to 37 released annually since 2022, which in itself is about one-fifth less than the 45 released in 2019.

Mr Kam noted that the relatively high movie ticket prices in South Korea and Malaysia do not help in an industry already disrupted by streaming platforms.

To use the globally available McDonald's burger as a benchmark: Malaysian movie ticket prices are about double the cost of a Big Mac sold in the country. In South Korea, media reports there indicate that ticket prices are about 70 per cent higher than the cost of a Big Mac.

LESSONS FOR SINGAPORE

Industry players and observers believe that cinemas in Singapore can regain their mojo. 

However, they also noted that market conditions and consumer behaviour have changed and this requires a new approach, though not one that can be adopted wholesale from other markets. 

Assoc Prof Hahnheiser of NTU observed that the COVID-19 pandemic affected consumer behaviour differently in different markets.

"(For example) in certain countries, physical reading has become huge. Publishing houses make much more money today than in pre-COVID times," he said. 

In contrast, Singapore's bookstores are also struggling and several independent bookstores have closed in recent years as well.

"We can't exclude the (movie) theatres from general consumer behaviour. It's one fragment (of a bigger industry) that is suffering," he added.

In online discussions about the demise of cinema operators in Singapore, consumers have talked about how the variety of entertainment and recreational activities available here has expanded over the years. 

Given the array of choices, many said they would rather spend money and time on other activities instead of going to a cinema to watch a movie, which they can stream at home anyway. 

Mr Wang of EY noted that consumers, particularly Gen Zers, are more willing to spend on premium options or experiences. 

"Hence, cinema operators need to rethink how they deliver the experience beyond watching a film to justify value to consumers," he said.

The experts gave examples of overseas theatres with luxurious seats that feel like those on a first-class flight, coupled with state-of-the-art projectors and sound systems.

Operators could also make the movie-watching experience more novel to attract different demographics, they said. These could include replicating the comforts of home by having beds instead of seats, or pairing movie screenings with feasts.

Mr Tan of SFS said his organisation would usually conduct post-show Q&As with the filmmakers  – either in person where possible, or via real-time Zoom after the screening – a value-add that consumers would not be able to get from streaming the movie.

As a testament to the success of this strategy, SFS' movie screening in IMAX format for the Japanese Film Festival 2024 recorded the highest attendance in its 41-year history, despite the movie that was screened already being available on streaming. 

The Singapore Chinese Film Festival, also organised by SFS, has consistently been well-attended too, which Mr Tan attributes to this same strategy.

GROWING SINGAPORE'S FILMMAKING INDUSTRY

The experts said that improving the domestic film industry can go a long way in drawing people to the theatres, too.

One way to do this is to have a policy that ensures airtime for Singapore films at cinema chains, coupled with some form of government subsidy, such as allowing movie tickets for these films to qualify under the SG Culture Pass, Mr Quek the film distributor argued.

"Filmmakers can then feel the demand from the consumers, what works and what doesn't. Right now, the films don't even have the chance to be seen," he said, adding that getting big players to screen Singapore films is like "pulling teeth".

From 2019 to 2024, only two Singapore movies made it to the annual top 10 grossing films here. Diam Diam Era was the ninth top-grossing movie in 2020, raking in S$1.52 million, while Money No Enough 3 was the third highest last year with a box office earning of S$4.49 million.

On a separate note, Assoc Prof Hahnheiser said Singapore filmmakers should do their part by making more films that would be appealing to mainstream audiences, instead of making only arthouse productions for the film festival circuit.

"(Many) are very arthouse, they're very challenging to watch," he added, noting that such Singapore films typically centre around a few similar themes.

"If you have had a hard day working as a lawyer or a taxi driver, do you want to go into the theatre to suffer?"

Mr Raihan said that to make a good movie, filmmakers do not necessarily have to "think bigger", aim for bigger budgets or include sophisticated graphic effects to spruce up their productions.

He proposed that they could instead take a leaf from Thailand's 2024 hit, How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies. With a budget of just about US$1 million, it grossed US$73.8 million worldwide, capturing international audiences not with any bells or whistles but with a simple yet moving plot.

"How did that movie beat Hollywood movies? It must have been written in a way that touched some people somewhere, and then it spread," he said.

"So I think bigger doesn't mean better. Maybe we just need to find something that resonates with the audience more."

Ultimately, the industry players interviewed held firm to their belief that cinema – Singapore's included — has repeatedly proven its resilience and can continue to flourish, if operators play their cards right.

"Streamlining is inevitable," Mr Tan of SFS said, recounting past shakeups such as financial crises and the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak.

"Each time, cinema has not only been 'streamlined', it has also bounced back and grown,” he added.