Back in 2021. MBO Cinemas made quite a bit of a comeback from the brink of closure. Unfortunately, five years later, the cinema chain has announced that “the show is over” for itself. On its Facebook page, the cinema chain posted a statement to that effect. The gravity of the message is definitely much greater than when it did so all those years back.
In it. MBO Cinemas said that it “will now be ceasing operations permanently”. Accompanying the statement is its customer care email for refund matters. Which is as good as indicator as any that the closure is effective immediately. Also included was contact details for PKF Malaysia for “other inquiries”.
The statement is strange for a number of reasons, but notably it is also a day late. The MBO Cinemas Facebook page remained active up until yesterday, with a post promoting The Super Mario Galaxy Movie that premieres on 1 April. On said post though, a commenter left a am image depicting a “Notice of Closure” at an unspecified outlet. This notice also announces the closure of the cinema chain, but with an effective date of 10 March. Also included was contact details for the Interim Liquidator, PKF Malaysia.
“The Show Is Over”
As mentioned, this is the second time that MBO Cinemas has had to announce its closure. The first was back during the COVID-19 pandemic days. Things were naturally rough during the Movement Control Order (MCO) days, but it hit the cinema chain hard enough to the point of having to liquidate its assets. Most were acquired by Golden Screen Cinemas, including a majority of its outlets. The rights to the MBO Cinemas name would then be acquired by another company, which then relaunched the cinema chain.
Perhaps new habits formed in response to the global pandemic response has kept things rough for the cinema business ever since. Incidentally, Dadi Cinema, the Chinese chain that took over GSC’s outlet at Pavilion KL, also announced its closure last week. That lot will be taken over by TGV. That being said, Dadi Cinema is not entirely out just yet. Per its Instagram post making the announcement, its Kedah outlet will continue to operate as normal.
(Source: MBO Cinemas / Facebook, Chin Sau Meau / Facebook, Dadi Cinema / Instagram)
