“Eng Wah Cineplex opens”, Mar 16, 2015

MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015
Eng Wah
Clementi
cineplex
opens
Operator WE Cinemas returns
to the cinema exhibition
business after two years
John Lui
Film Correspondent
A
10-hall cineplex in Clementi opens
today, marking the return of operator
WE Cinemas after a two-year hiatus.
The cineplex is located at the 321
Clementi mall, which also officially
opens today. The mall, like the cineplex, is owned
and managed by Eng Wah Global.
WE Cinemas moved out of its last two locations
in West Mall and Suntec City Mall in 2013, giving
them up to rival operators Cathay and Golden
Village respectively.
While its seating capacity of 746 makes it the
smallest of the five commercial operators, WE
Cinemas has the advantage of being the only source
of movie entertainment in the Clementi housing
estate.
Its closest rivals are one MRT stop away, at
Jurong East, where Cathay Cineplex Jem and Shaw
Theatres JCube are located. Further west, at Boon
Lay station, there is GV Jurong Point.
Ms Vivien Ong, sales and marketing director
with parent company Eng Wah Global, says her
organisation went “on vacation” from the
exhibition business after it closed its last two
outlets in 2013.
The parent company had a “strategic plan to consolidate its resources”, she says, explaining its exit
from the exhibition business that year.
The group operates other lifestyle and leisure
outlets such as Hotel Fort Canning, the mall Jubilee
Square and the club The Legends Fort Canning.
As Clementi is a hub for schools, such as the
Singapore Polytechnic and the National University
of Singapore, Ms Ong expects the 1,858 sq m
cinema to be a hit with students.
The new cineplex will feature ticketless admission and Dolby Atmos surround sound. Its premium
class hall, dubbed First Class, will have plusher
seats, personal tables for clients and food service.
Other tenants in the mall are expected to take up
residence in the coming weeks, says Ms Ong. These
include the Fitness First gym and restaurants such
as Vons Chicken, Mei Heong Yuen Dessert,
Kowloon Express and Charcoal Thai.
As for opening more cinemas, Eng Wah Global is
“in dialogue with potential landlords”, she says.
johnlui@sph.com.sg
Lee’s agent ‘surprised’
by elder abuse allegations
Los Angeles – The literary
agent for Harper Lee (right)
said he was surprised someone had told Alabama
authorities
that
the
88-year-old author might
be the victim of elder abuse
and manipulated into the
publication of her second
novel.
In a statement issued
last
Friday
through
publisher HarperCollins,
agent Andrew Nurnberg said Lee was delighted
about the publication of Go Set A Watchman scheduled for July, 55 years after her classic To Kill A
Mockingbird.
“I was surprised to hear that someone had,
anonymously, approached the authorities in
Alabama to suggest that Harper Lee was being
subjected to ‘elder abuse’,” the statement read.
Mr Nurnberg said: “Having spent quality time
with her over the last couple of years, I can categorically state that she is in full possession of her
mental faculties.”
On Thursday, the Alabama Securities Commission said it had closed its investigation into an
unspecified complaint of elder abuse, first reported
by The New York Times, tied to the publication of
Lee’s second novel.
“We made a determination that Ms Lee, based
on our interview with her, was aware that her book
was going to be published,” said Mr Joseph Borg,
who heads the commission.
“She wanted it to be published. She made it
quite clear she did.”
Mr Nurnberg said the reclusive Lee, who has not
spoken to the press in more than 50 years, was
surprised when the manuscript, which she had
presumed long lost, was found last August.
“She is both delighted and enthused that it will
now be published,” his statement said.
Go Set A Watchman was written before To Kill A
Mockingbird, which won a Pulitzer Prize after its
1960 publication.
The novel sold more than 30 million copies and
was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film.
The new book features lawyer Atticus Finch 20
years after the events of To Kill A Mockingbird, as
his adult daughter, Scout, returns to visit him in
the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama.
Reuters
LIFE!
C7
An artist’s
impression of
new mall 321
Clementi, which
opens today.
PHOTO: ENG
WAH GLOBAL