THAI THEATERS

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There are still a few old Thai movies standalone theaters in my home town, Nakhon Pathom.

A former theater was The Odeon - โอเดียน. The building is already demolished. It became a fruit market, which moved away. Then it was replaced by a standard market.

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Now all movies are shown in Big C mall in Nakhon Pathom. It is a multiplex with 5 screens. It offers more choice, more convenience but less atmosphere.

This below Odeon theater is located in Malaysia but it reminds me some Thai standalone theaters having same name.

The Odeon standalone theater is located in George Town city, Penang province in Malaysia.

The Odeon theater now features mainly Bollywood movies. Sometimes it is still full house.

Such standalone theater is seldom seen nowadays as most theaters are now found in malls and are featuring multiple screens.

The Odeon theater concession counter features drinks and snacks.

The Odeon theater was closed during a few years but finally bought by local Indian owners. One of the owner has been in cinema business for 40 years.

The new owners are very friendly and show me inside the whole theater.

The Odeon theater was opened in year 1947. It is the last standalone theater in Penang.

The Odeon theater has been upgraded with latest modern cinema features such as Dolby Stereo, digital sound but not yet 3D.

As it is a standalone theater, it features only one big screen.

The main room features air conditioning now. Wooden benches have just been replaced by more comfortable seats.

There are one thousand seats available in The Odeon theater.

There is a mezzanine and a main floor seating in The Odeon theater. It costs 10 MYR downstairs and 12 MYR upstairs.

Inside the projection room, the projectors heat is evacuated outside through a maze of pipes.

The projection room features two old projectors. One is used after the other one to let it cool down.

The projectors are 60 years old. It is not possible to buy a new one but the owner can still fix them.

The owner keeps movies' reels or sell them. The movies are bought by them and are coming from India directly.

During a movie projection, the owner visits often the mezzanine to ensure that nobody is taking illegal videos.

The movies are mainly for the Indian local community but sometimes movies also festure Malay subtitles.

One 35mm movie reel lasts around 25 minutes. Hindi movies are very long, i.e. around 2h30mn. So 6 or more movie reels are often used.

It is a better business to show Bollywood movies than to show American or Chinese movies as they appear on YouTube later!

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