Coliseum Theatre (Kuala Lumpur)
Encyclopedia
The Coliseum Theatre is a movie theater
in Kuala Lumpur
, Malaysia. One of the oldest movie theaters in the country, it was built in 1920 by the Chua family led by Chua Cheng Bok.
The Art Deco
-style building is capable of seating 900 people and also features a balcony. The famed Coliseum Café and Hotel - a favourite haunt of William Somerset Maugham during his stay in British Malaya
- are located behind the theatre, just down the road. The oldest and continuously running cinema hall in the country (save for a break during the Japanese occupation during World War II), most of the movies premiering in the building are Indian movie
s. After Chua Cheng Bok's demise in 1940, his estate continued to administer the Coliseum until its acquisition in 1973 by a company owned by his nephew Dr Chua Boon Teck and his wife Mdm Khor Joo Saik.
In 2006, the Malaysian government proposed to close the theater and turn it into a cultural heritage
center, but relented when there was a public outcry to the scheme. The government later decided not to close the cinema. Instead, they planned to build a car park nearby.
In that year, Dr Chua Seong Siew, elder son of the late owners Dr Chua Boon Teck and Mdm Khor Joo Saik, and a Cambridge University educated physician, had successfully appealed for the cinema theater to remain open, and so it continues to operate to this day.
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Malaysia. One of the oldest movie theaters in the country, it was built in 1920 by the Chua family led by Chua Cheng Bok.
The Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
-style building is capable of seating 900 people and also features a balcony. The famed Coliseum Café and Hotel - a favourite haunt of William Somerset Maugham during his stay in British Malaya
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
- are located behind the theatre, just down the road. The oldest and continuously running cinema hall in the country (save for a break during the Japanese occupation during World War II), most of the movies premiering in the building are Indian movie
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...
s. After Chua Cheng Bok's demise in 1940, his estate continued to administer the Coliseum until its acquisition in 1973 by a company owned by his nephew Dr Chua Boon Teck and his wife Mdm Khor Joo Saik.
In 2006, the Malaysian government proposed to close the theater and turn it into a cultural heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
center, but relented when there was a public outcry to the scheme. The government later decided not to close the cinema. Instead, they planned to build a car park nearby.
In that year, Dr Chua Seong Siew, elder son of the late owners Dr Chua Boon Teck and Mdm Khor Joo Saik, and a Cambridge University educated physician, had successfully appealed for the cinema theater to remain open, and so it continues to operate to this day.
External links
- The Coliseum Theatre at Cinema Treasures.