19 Oct - Renovations have commenced this week within the lobby area of the TGV cinema in 1 Utama shopping mall for upgrading and refurbishment. At present, the area affected is only confined to the box office ticketing counters, parts of the main lobby area and some overhead fittings. Although the work looks likely to stretch well into October, the disruption is not expected to have a great impact on daily operations. The September to October period is typically a low season for cinema operations as most of the mid-year (summer) blockbusters have finished their run, and is still two months away from the year-end hits. Most movies played around this period attract anything from 10% to 50% occupancy on average, and may reach 80% at best on weekends, making this an ideal time for renovation work at such a location.
For now, the ticketing queue has been moved over to the snack counters where there will be separate lines for reservations, regular ticket purchasing and snack purchases during busy periods. When Cinema Online visited the cinema on Friday night, the crowd was not too heavy and patrons were allowed to purchase both their tickets and their refreshments together since they are now on a shared counter. Perhaps this two-in-one queue could even be a resolve worth considering, so that cinema-goers don't have to queue twice – once for tickets and again for snacks. Stay tuned for further updates.