Chin: MovieTowne an investment in the country

Starting at MT’s fourth and newest cineplex; located C3 Centre in Corinth, San Fernando and which is set to open to the public at 3 pm tomorrow (Friday), OT will provide a new, improved version of 3D glasses to MT in exchange for “the exclusive right to market under MT.” This was revealed by MT’s Managing Director, Derek Chin, during an interview with Business Day at MT San Fernando last Saturday (January 14). The fourth and newest MT Cineplex cost an estimated TT $150 million to build.

“It’s also an investment in our country,” Chin stated. “We’re employing more than 500 people, including staff at the two restaurants inside the three storey cineplex - Ruby Tuesday and Rizzoni’s.” In terms of an improved 3D movie experience, Chin said, “You’ll see a difference here at C3 and if it works, we’ll go back and change it in Portof- Spain, Chaguanas and Lowlands, Tobago.

Asked what the issue was, he replied, “the glasses.” Explaining that switching from international 3D provider to another can be a bit difficult and that one company’s glasses won’t work with a competitor’s system, Chin told Business Day this is what prompted him to seek a local solution.

“OT helped us to come up with another projection system to see how compatible it could be. So they are working on a deal with us to supply the glasses. It’s working, it’s very good and if we get a good response from the public, we’ll start to look at changing over everything to that technology. That should be completed in a few months,” Chin said.

The investment in new technology means a new price to see 3D movies at all MT locations; timed to coincide with the public opening of MT San Fernando. Customers currently pay $60 per adult ticket. This will go up by $5 to $65 per 3D ticket, effective tomorrow.

It will cost you more however to watch a regular/2D movie at MT San Fernando because this cineplex has high definition or, as Chin calls them, “super screens”. At the three other locations, customers pay (and will continue to pay) $50 per adult ticket while at San Fernando, super screen tickets will cost $60.

Asked about this, Chin said apart from investing in the latest technology to provide a superior viewing experience to his customers, MT has not raised its prices in more than five years.

“I want to make sure that when they spend that money, they get value. If you go to a movie in the United States, it’s US$12 which is TT $72 (if you use an exchange rate of TT $6 to US$1 or TT $81.60 if you use an exchange rate of TT $6.8 to US $1), so we are doing our part.” Chin told Business Day, “I held back on a price increase because I live here and I have a social responsibility. I want people to come out and even if they can’t come out three times, well come out twice, that’s why we maintained prices for the past few years.” The opening of a new location of a franchise tends to lead to comparisons of the decor, infrastructure and technology at older locations. Chin said that’s exactly what happened when people got a preview of the facilities at MT San Fernando. Hence the decision to invest in upgrades at the very first MT Cineplex at Invaders Bay, Portof- Spain.

“Port-of-Spain has three screens I need to change to super screens but I’m also doing an upgrade because everybody who came here (San Fernando) is steupsing – ‘So what you doing about Port-of-Spain now?’ We are going to do over all of the seats; from the existing cloth to leather like these at C3. The carpet too is being changed. Port-of-Spain opened Just over 14 years ago, in November 2002, so it needs a change.” Chin expressed hope that MT San Fernando, which will soon include a VIP Platinum cinema (there is one in Port-of-Spain), “will do very well, so that it (proposed renovations) won’t be a problem.

He cited the cost of the chairs as an example of the significant outlay involved in outfitting a cinema.

“A seat like the blue leather ones we’ve installed here is about US$140 for one seat, so multiply that by 2,000, we have about 2,000 seats at C3 (US$280,000). Add duty et cetera, then you have to install them; I have my installation crews but I still have to pay them. Port-of- Spain has 2,500 seats.” He added that conducting renovations on a business like this requires planning because “changing seats requires closing down a screen, so I’ll lose revenue while that’s being done. Carpets, on the other hand, can be changed while the cinema is closed. I have to time it right, maybe during Carnival.” Looking to the future, MT Guyana is set to open later this year, with eight screens. This will bring the total number of MT screens in the region to 40; there are now 32 in TT with the opening of the San Fernando location.

The bigger a cinema chain, the more attractive it is to investors, Chin noted, “as a publicly listed company and as a potential (acquisition) target of large companies in the cinema business.” Chin cited the buyout of all AMC theatres by Chinese billionaire, Wang Jianlin, who runs the Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group.

“So if you build enough, like 150 screens, they’ll potentially offer you US$1 billion to take over your business. Maybe I’ll try to build enough of a base to become attractive to large companies in the cinema business.” Chin also discussed the possibility of an initial public offering (IPO) of MT shares on the TT Stock Exchange.

“We eventually want to go public, maybe in two years. I think Trinidadians will buy into MT. That’s how you grow faster - if every time you build one of these (cineplex) and you have to get TT$150 million, it’s not easy. If I can defer my debt or pay my debt off and use the shareholders’ money, I can expand very fast. I can build four, five at the same time.” “It took me 15 years to build number five… that’s a long time and I’m not a young man anymore but that’s the idea and that’s how you get big and grow and become a business to be reckoned with.”