[2025.06.28] GOLDEN HARVEST CEASES ITS CINEMA BUSINESS OPERATION

Customers still visit the Golden Harvest StagE in Tuen Mun

A new operator will take over Golden Harvest Tai Po

The Olympic City the sky still has many movie goers

The future of Golden Harvest Galaxy remains unknown after its lease with the Plaza ended

Recently the cinema business has been in a slump. Golden Harvest Megabox earlier also closed its doors.
courtesy of on.cc

Due to the poor economic climate, cinemas have closed one after another. The local film industry giant that operated cinemas under its banner for almost half a century, Golden Harvest Cinema chain's parent company Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment issued a listed company notice yesterday to announce that it will close all its doors tomorrow. The group's four cinemas, namely those in Tai Kok Tsui, Tuen Mun, Shau Kei Wan and Tai Po, will close. Golden Harvest Cinemas has closed three cinemas earlier, and will end its Hong Kong cinema business. Orange Sky Golden Harvest said that three of the cinema sites will be leased by new operators, and Golden Harvest gift certificates and other vouchers can continue to be used until September this year. Movie fans feel a pity for the closure of Golden Harvest Cinemas, and they are afraid that there will be fewer and fewer entertainment options in the future. The film industry said that the closure of the cinema chain was "expected", but said that the wave of cinema closures was likely to be "over".

Orange Sky Golden Harvest announced that it will cease to operate all cinema businesses in Hong Kong, including the lease of Olympian City's sky, Tuen Mun StagE, Shau Kei Wan Golden Harvest Galaxy Plaza and Golden Harvest Tai Po Cinema will be terminated a few days after tomorrow. The Group claimed that the relevant leases were completed or terminated by agreement, in other words, individual leases were terminated early.

The Company explained that the decision was part of the Group's strategic review of its operating and cost structure. After evaluating the performance and sustainability of the cinema business in Hong Kong, the decision was made to fully withdraw from the Hong Kong market, resulting in additional non-recurring income of approximately $65 million due to the original cost provision and the modification of lease terms.

Golden Harvest Cinemas chain announced on its social media platforms that the four cinemas will operate until tomorrow, with the sky, StagE and Golden Harvest Tai Po being leased by the new operators while Golden Harvest Cinemas' gift certificates, vouchers and movie tickets will continue to be used at these venues on or before August 31st this year. Golden Harvest GH Moviegoer members will be able to transfer to the new operator's membership plan, and the new plan will be announced by the new operator in due course. Golden Harvest also said that it is very happy and honored to spend countless unforgettable movie moments with fans in the past.

Movie goer Ms. Yip felt sorry for the closure of Golden Harvest and believed that it was a loss of cultural and entertainment life in the community. She mentioned that she would watch movies after work on weekdays to relax. Recently the ticket price of the theater was unusually cheap, only HK$ 60 per day on weekdays. The price was still far lower than the ticket price of more than HK$ 100 when she was in secondary school, which was a harbinger of the theater's business difficulties and imminent closure. She worried that in the future only a few large cinema chains may remain, which will monopolize the market and reduce the variety of choices. Mr. Tung also felt sorry after learning about the closure, saying that he often went to the cinema with his family to watch movies, and was worried that the closure of the cinema would cause one less entertainment venue in the district.

The spokesman for the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers Tin Kai Man said that the closure of the Golden Harvest Cinema chain was "expected". He has been pointing out that there were still cinemas that would close, but he pointed out that the wave of cinema closures was likely to have "ended". There was no news of other large-scale cinema chains planning to close in the future, and only a few cinemas might close due to the expiration of their leases.

Golden Harvest Cinemas chain has earlier introduced an "unmanned cinema" at Golden Harvest Galaxy Plaza in Shau Kei Wan. For the ticket purchase, ticket inspection and admission without staff present, customers need to complete the process themselves to save costs. Tin Kai Man believes that it is advisable for cinemas to survive in different ways, but Golden Harvest will eventually close down because of the commercial considerations of the operators. Conceivably they do not want to invest resources in the field of operating cinemas.

According to the annual report of Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment, as of the end of last year the group's income from continuing operations was only about 730 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 7%; but after deducting expenses and financial expenses, the loss before tax exceeded 158 million yuan. The group explained that due to the 2023 Hollywood writers and actors strike, resulting in a lack of blockbuster films and shortened release schedules, the box office, admission rate and final revenue will drop sharply.

The Group also said that Hong Kong's disappointing post-pandemic economic performance, the migration of young people, and the change in consumption habits in the post-pandemic era, with people spending more abroad than locally, have made the cinema industry even worse. Coupled with the continued impact of global headwinds on the macro economy, consumers are generally reluctant to spend, resulting in a decrease in attendance from 2.1 million in 2023 to 2 million last year, and box office receipts also decreased by 15% to $121.7 million last year. In order to attract customers back to the cinema, the average ticket price also dropped to $61. Despite the short-term rental support provided by landlords during the year, the Group's Hong Kong operations continued to record a revenue loss of $19.5 million due to high rents.

The closing of the entire Golden Harvest cinema chain was not unexpected. Over the past year or so a number of its cinemas have ceased operation or closed down one after another, including Golden Harvest Kai Tak, Golden Harvest V WALK, Golden Harvest Whampoa, Grand Ocean Cinema and Golden Harvest Megabox. This year the cinema business has been in a stump, as more than 10 cinemas have bid farewell to their fans including Sun Beam Cinema in North Point, MCL Kornhill Cinema in Tai Koo and Newport Cinema in Mong Kok. After the Whampoa Cinema closed for business, Lee Kui Ming took it over and it would soon become Sun Beam Whampoa; Cine Art Cinemas would take over the Hollywood and Megabox Cinemas in Diamond Hill and they are under renovation.

Golden Harvest Cinemas' parent company, Orange Sky Golden Harvest, will terminate all cinema operations in Hong Kong, marking the farewell of the half-century-old film and related business in Hong Kong to the local cinema market. Looking back at the company's recent action, hints of its retreat from the mainland and Hong Kong cinema market could be traced. In 2017 Orange Sky Golden Harvest sold its mainland business to other cinema chains, and in February this year it also suspended the operation of its flagship Golden Harvest Cinema in Shenzhen. This time it withdrew from the Hong Kong cinema market again, that is, it faded out of the relevant business in both the mainland and the local market.

Orange Sky Golden Harvest was formerly Golden Harvest. Founded in 1970 by Raymond Chow Man Wai, Leonard Ho Koon Cheung and Leung Fung, Golden Harvest Entertainment founded in 1972 the Panasia Films Ltd. that engaged in film procurement, distribution, video distribution, publicity and promotion, cinema screen and other one-stop film business. In 1977 Golden Harvest opened its first cinema in Hong Kong and officially entered the cinema business. Between 1985 and 1990 the Group produced an average of 25 to 30 films per year, making it the world's largest Chinese-language film studio with a distribution network and cinema network all over the world. Golden Harvest Entertainment (Holdings) Limited was listed on November 23rd, 1994. In 2007 Wu Kebo became a major shareholder through Orange Sky Entertainment Group, and in 2009 it was renamed to Orange Sky Golden Harvest.

In 2005 the Group opened its first flagship cinema in Shenzhen and as of the end of December 2015, the Group operated 97 cinemas with a total of 716 screens. The group was the first to enter Hollywood, producing English-language films that once sparked Western interest in Hong Kong-made martial arts films. In recent years as the overall performance of Hong Kong's film industry has shrunk, the group has gradually adjusted its business and announced yesterday that it will end its cinema business in Hong Kong.