After opening their doors for decades, the curtains have now rolled down on two old cinemas that once served as arthouses in the busy district of Senen, Central Jakarta.

Mulia Agung and Grand Theater, located in one building at the Senen intersection, were closed down on Jan. 1 after finding themselves outpaced by larger theater chains decked out with the latest technology.

The old cinema owners saw it coming. After enjoying the glory of Indonesian movies in 1970s and 1980s, a sluggish national film industry and the rise of exploitative, adult-themed B-rated movies led them into a shady new path as grindhouses.

For years, middle-aged women hung around the lobby and sidewalk, offering companion to people who bought tickets, confirming the new direction.

Despite its dark and humid hall, thin padded chairs, absence of air-conditioners and heavy cigarette smoke inside the studio, the allure of the grindhouses was undeniable, especially for lower middle class society who longed for cheap entertainment and an escape from the fast paced environment in the center of the city.

With weekday ticket prices of Rp 8,000 and weekend prices of Rp 10,000 and located just around the corner from Senen Station and market, the cinemas once enjoyed better days.

“This place used to be the center of entertainment in Central Jakarta, but who goes to the cinema to watch old and B-rated movies anymore,” Agus, a former employee of the cinemas who refused to reveal his surname, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The management was aware that they stood no chance competing with big names like Cinema 21 or CGV Blitz, and they had no intention do so.

Only two out of three studios have been running for past few months while the cinemas counted down the days. All of the screens still used movie rolls to play their movies, even though digital movie technology took over the market in 2012.

Agus said the audience primarily consisted of couples, some of whom even watched two movies consecutively.

Unlike other cinemas, he continued, the Senen establishments applied no strict rules and people were allowed to light up cigarettes or talk with each other during the show.

Rumors that the cinemas were going to be closed circulated among the 12 employees since the middle of 2016.

He said that lately each show had average audience of just 8-10 people and even for some shows no tickets were sold.

He went on to say that the building had been purchased by a buyer who was only interested in opening up a parking lot for cars and motorcycles looking for cheap parking fees. However, the buyer has yet to decide on what to do to with the cinema studios.

Okinawan Agni Mulyono, a movie enthusiast who created the old-cinema enthusiast community Wisata Ria, said the closure of Mulia Agung and Grand Theater marked the change of an era in the cinema industry. Buaran Cinema in East Jakarta is now the last cinema that is not affiliated with large theater chains and still uses movie rolls to play the shows.

“Now most of the cinemas use digital movies with a quality that is way above the quality produced by movie rolls. It must be hard for the old cinemas to compete,” he said.

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