Eng Wah’s 80-year legacy ends as historic Singapore cinema operator exits industry

SINGAPORE – The sale of Eng Wah’s WE Cinemas operations in Clementi to mm2 Asia, which runs Cathay Cineplexes, marks the exit of one of Singapore’s smallest cinema operators – one with deep roots in the country’s history, especially its housing estates.

The

sale announcement on Oct 18

shrinks the pool of one- and two-location operators with regular screenings of commercial films.

Only The Projector, Carnival Cinemas, EagleWings Cinematics and Filmgarde Cineplexes are left.

Most of these indie players serve a niche, which helps explain their longevity.

The Projector specialises in festival and art-house films, and Carnival Cinemas is a haven for Bollywood films. EagleWings Cinematics, which follows a Christian ethos that includes screening inspiring non-mainstream fare, serves the community in the more affluent Bukit Timah and King Albert Park area.

Meanwhile, single-location cinemas like Oldham Theatre and ArtScience Cinema explore a curated selection of films built on specific themes, for example, to celebrate film-makers or cultural programmes.

Filmgarde Cineplexes, like WE Cinemas, lacks a market niche. In recent years, it has shrunk to one outlet at Leisure Park Kallang.

The major chains Golden Village Multiplex, Cathay Cineplexes and Shaw Theatres continue to dominate in a business landscape challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic, falling attendance, Hollywood strikes and the rise of streaming services.

Tough times tend to favour larger players, say experts.

Eng Wah Global’s cinema business began with the opening of Victory Theatre at Happy World Amusement Park just after World War II. The company was founded by businessman Goh Eng Wah, who died in 2015 at the age of 92.

From the 1940s to 2010s, Eng Wah Cinemas flourished in housing estates.

Mr Wong Han Min, a researcher specialising in the history of Singapore cinemas, has fond memories of Eng Wah’s Toa Payoh theatre – the chain’s first cinema in a Housing Board estate, which opened in 1972 – where he watched movies as a child.

The 55-year-old, who gave a talk at the National Heritage Board’s HeritageFest in May on the island’s old cinemas, also owns one of Singapore’s largest collections of film memorabilia.

“Eng Wah Cinemas back then catered to a Chinese-speaking audience. They would bring in romantic dramas from Taiwan and gongfu movies from Hong Kong,” he says.

Eng Wah’s movies were usually produced by smaller studios, with Hollywood fare and films by larger Asian studios going to chains run by Cathay and Shaw, adds Mr Wong.

By the start of the 1990s, however, Eng Wah had entered the English-language market.

The company opened Empress Cinema in Clementi in 1980 and Jubilee Cinema in Ang Mo Kio in 1981. It also ventured into the city centre, operating cinemas at Marina Square from 1989 to 1998 and Suntec City from 1998 to 2013.

All outlets except the one in Clementi would eventually close for good. By the 1990s, Singaporeans had gravitated to large cineplexes in MRT-connected shopping centres.

Eng Wah’s downtown ventures faced challenges.

“The Suntec City cinema was in a hard-to-reach part of the mall,” says Mr Wong, adding that it would take the maturation of the MRT network during the 2010s to bring areas like Suntec City within easier reach of cinemagoers.

Golden Village took over Eng Wah’s Suntec premises in 2014.

After Eng Wah Cinemas rebranded itself as WE Cinemas in 2011, it made a comeback to the cinema business in 2015 with the opening of a new 10-screen multiplex at 321 Clementi. This return came after a two-year hiatus following the closure of its West Mall and Suntec City outlets.

From then till 2024, the Clementi multiplex would be the operator’s sole cinema operation.

Eng Wah Global’s shift to other activities mirrors the move taken by the more well-known Singapore cinema company, Cathay Organisation. Its Cathay Cineplexes was acquired by media conglomerate mm2 Asia in 2017.

Both companies pivoted away from cinemas in response to changing market conditions.

Eng Wah Global remains active in the hospitality and real estate sectors in Singapore and Malaysia.

In addition to WE Cinemas, it owns Hotel Fort Canning, shopping centre Jubilee Square in Ang Mo Kio, the 321 Clementi building, The Legends Fort Canning Park town club and The Legends Golf & Country Resort in Sedenak, Johor.

Jubilee Square holds some Eng Wah cinema history. It was the site of the company’s Jubilee Cinema, which was torn down in 1994 and replaced in 1996 by an entertainment complex with a four-hall cineplex.

Cinema operations there ceased in 2010, with the halls converted into retail space. The site was then revamped and reopened in 2012 as Jubilee Square.

mm2 Asia announced on Oct 18 that it will acquire and take over operations of WE Cinemas at 321 Clementi on Nov 1. It will also be renamed Cathay Cineplexes Clementi 321. A spokesperson for mm2 Asia says the handover will not interrupt operations.

In a statement, Ms Goh Min Yen, managing director of Eng Wah Global, says: “We are very appreciative and grateful for the phenomenal support from our cinema patrons since the opening of WE Cinemas at 321 Clementi.

“Under the management and team of Cathay Cineplexes, customers can continue to enjoy the very best cinematic entertainment that the movie industry has to offer, and we are committed to supporting the new management for the transition.”

In response to The Straits Times’ query about closing its last Eng Wah cinema, a spokesperson for Eng Wah Global says: “We are happy to partner mm2 Asia, who can further scale the cinema business with our outlet.

“Furthermore, it is an integrated entertainment company, and we are confident that our patrons can continue to enjoy the magic of movies and more at 321 Clementi.”

A further question to the spokesperson about whether the company might stage a return to the cinema business, as it did in 2015, did not get a response.

Mr Kenneth Tan is chairman of the Singapore Film Society and former managing director of Golden Village Multiplex from 2003 to 2008. He remembers going to Empress Cinema as a student during Hindu festival Vaikunda Ekadasi, where he watched many screenings, including a midnight double-bill of Tamil films.

The 59-year-old also encountered the founder of Eng Wah. “I met Mr Goh Eng Wah once when I was starting out in the industry. I remember his kind smile, his depth of movie knowledge and his obvious devotion to the business.”

Film-maker Huang Junxiang, 35, says that by the early 2000s, Empress Cinema, which by then had been converted into the three-hall Empress Cineplex, was in a state of disrepair.

During a screening in 2001 of The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Rings, “part of the ceiling collapsed mid-movie”, he recalls. The decline of the cinema that had meant so much when he was growing up saddened him. 

In 2006, the complex housing the cinema was rebuilt, reopening in 2015 as 321 Clementi.

Huang remembers how great it was catching the midnight show of Hong Kong director Stephen Chow’s comedy God Of Cookery (1996) at Empress Cineplex.

“My fondest memories are of my parents taking me there every week to watch a movie.”