Star Cineplex, known as the very first branch of modern cineplex in the country, has officially announced that it is shutting down operations at its Bashundhara City branch in Dhaka where it started 16 years ago.
“Star Cineplex in the Bashundhara City Shopping Mall will not reopen. We received an eviction notice from the market authority a few days ago, as our contract ends next month (1 October) and it has not been possible to be renewed,” Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, public relations head of Star Cineplex, confirmed to media on Tuesday.
However, the other branches of Star Cineplex will continue operations once the restriction on movie theatres gets lifted, he added.
Apart from the Bashundhara City branch in Panthapath, Star Cineplex has two other running branches in Shimanto Shambhar (Dhanmondi) and SKS Tower (Mohakhali) in Dhaka. A new branch is scheduled to start its operation at Mirpur, soon.
Although the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 has impacted the cinema industry like never before, the crisis situation is not the reason that Star Cineplex to shut down in the Bashundhara City - nor the fear of lacking cinema audience in the future, Mesbah specified.
“We, alongside all our loyal and beloved movie-lovers are emotionally attached to this branch, as this has been the very first in the country. Many urban people started coming to cinema theatres again because of this branch. We believe this relationship will continue between us and our movie-lovers in our other branches, once they are re-opening”.
Apart from the Bashundhara City branch in Panthapath, Star Cineplex has two other running branches in Shimanto Shambhar (Dhanmondi) and SKS Tower (Mohakhali) in Dhaka. A new branch is scheduled to start its operation at Mirpur, soon.
On 12 August, the Cineplex authority called a press conference in which a seven-point plea was declared to the government, in order to keep their operations in all of their 15 screens across Bangladesh.
All branches of Star Cineplex have remained closed since 20 March.
Started as the first international quality state-of-the-art multiplex cinema theatre in Bangladesh on 8 October 2004 by Show Motion Limited (incorporated in 2002) at Bashundhara City, Star Cineplex became a household name for the movie-loving urban youths and families for the last 16 years.
While many cinema halls failed to generate new audiences, the Bashundhara City branch of Star Cineplex brought urban audiences back in movie theatres and simultaneously enthralled audiences of both local and foreign movies, which has been appreciated by both the audiences and industry-insiders throughout its running years.