TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Fans gather for final showings at Thailand's much-loved La Scala theater
Change Size
Movie fans gather to bid farewell to the last stand-alone movie theate La Scala amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bangkok, Thailand July 4, 2020. (Reuters/Chalinee Thirasupa)
D
onning masks and observing social-distancing practices, movie and theater fans on Saturday bid a final farewell to Thailand's La Scala theater in Bangkok, which is set to close its doors in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 50-year-old theater, built in the late modernism architectural style with an Art-Deco interior, has been struggling for the last decade to stay profitable amid competition from new media and increases in its land lease costs.
The pandemic and restrictions on movement to curb its spread dealt the final blow to the theater in the heart of the capital. The Thai economy as a whole is forecast to shrink this year more than any other in Southeast Asia.
"I'm so sad I have no words. It is heartbreaking," said Nanta Tansasha, whose family runs the theater, which was built by her father.
"When we look toward the future, I don't know if it (business) will pick up... so I decided to stop the business now," she said.
The theater had a glamorous opening on New Year's Eve in 1970, and the first movie it showed was "The Undefeated" starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson.
Read also: New and ‘beautified’ Khao San Road in Bangkok to reopen in August
In its heyday, it rolled out the red carpet for celebrities including the likes of Jean Claude Van Damme for the Bangkok Film Festival in 2003.
The final showings this weekend include Italian movies and Thai documentaries, with 3,000 tickets sold to fans who want to pay one last visit.
La Scala, the last theater building of its kind in Bangkok, where most cinemas and theaters are housed in larger malls, is already dwarfed by the tall buildings around it. Nanta expects a high-rise to replace her theater.
