At the recent office warming party of TGV Cinema's new office at Menara Maxis KLCC, we met up with Kenny Wong, the Chief Executive Officer of TGV Cinemas as he shared TGV's developments and plans that will see not one, but five new cinema outlets up and running next year despite the possible demise of the outlet at CapSquare, Kuala Lumpur. Interview conducted recently at TGV's new office at Menara Maxis, KLCC. Q: What are the upcoming TGV outlets we can look forward to? For this year only one, which is in 1Shamelin, Cheras and another one in Aeon Jusco, Rawang. There are a few more outside of Klang Valley and another one in Johor. Q: Will you be able to reveal the locations? Currently I can tell you two of them, one of which is at Setiawalk in Puchong and the other one is Paragon, Gurney. There are two in the outskirts of Klang Valley and another one in Johor. Q: Is TGV going to set up another arm like how GSC did with GSC movies? If opportunities and synergies arise, then yes. We have been debating it, however it is not in our strategy this year or the next.
Q: How important is social media (e.g.- Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to TGV? Information is fast, real-time and accurate and in today's tech savvy-world, you're either in, or disconnected completely. When we respond to our constumers they are very happy. It's a matter of listening to them and responding. Q: What is to happen to the Hindi movie hotspot we have all come to love – TGV CapSquare? We heard the place would turn into a digital mall? Our lease has expired. We would like to continue on with the place, but to be honest it's not doing as well as our other locations, but it has developed it's own appeal that we appreciate. We're still negotiating an extension, so if we do get out of CapSquare, it's not because we want to, it's because the consensus are beyond our means to extend. In the last six months, progress has been fantastic because we have done various marketing campaigns specifically for CapSquare. But it's beyond us now as currently the place is in negotiations with Pikom, so circumstances may force us out but it is still undecided for now. Q: When will TGV 1 Utama be back in business? Will it be at the same spot? It will essentially be around the same spot, but the area it was before is going to be converted into a retail spot. The mall developers are going to give us another space and we're going to build from scratch. It's going to be somewhere near the current car park and somewhere near the middle of the mall. As this is a massive exercise with huge dependencies on the mall management, we envisage it will take at least another year before you see the new TGV 1U. Q: Tell us more about Kenny Wong the person. What kind of movies do you like and what is your favourite movie? I don't have a favourite movie, but I have favourite genres, which are action, thriller, comedy and superhero movies. "Transformers" is one of my favourites and I don't mind admitting that I like chick flicks too, like "Just Go With It". I do not like to watch 'heavy' ones that make you feel depressed when you leave the cinema hall, so watching a really serious and depressing movie is not my cup of tea. I'm passionate about a lot of things, so most things come naturally. If you strip away all those layers of 'drive', I'm a pretty simple guy. What you see on my twitter is exactly like how I really am in real-life.