Last month, #savescala was a trending hashtag among Bangkok social media users following the rumors that Lido and Scala, two of the city’s most favorite theaters, will be torn down to give way for (more) shopping complexes. The rumor is partly true. Lido will be no more. Chulalongkorn University, which legally owns the land where both theaters occupy, has planned to refurbish the long-standing theater in mid-2018 and reopen as Creative & Design Community Complex.
“Not many people go to watch movies at Lido anymore,” says Assoc. Prof. Wisanu Subsompon, a Chulalongkorn University Property Management Office exec, noting that Lido has long been suffering from operation loss. “The place is run-down. They have managed to survive from leasing the space to small retailers who sell low-quality products. This isn’t the image we’re looking for; Lido should be decent. It’s a waste of space in the middle of the city. So I told [the owners] that this [way] doesn’t work. We’ll take control and renovate the space.”
In April, Lido will host the International Film Festival, which could possibly be the theater’s last large-scale event. Soon after, the theater will be closed and the Creative and Design Community Complex to support design-focused local entrepreneurs will be kickstarted. “I think [Thai] local entrepreneurs and designers have great ideas in selling quality products via Instagram and Facebook, yet don’t have physical space to sell their stuff,” adds Wisanu, “So we’ll provide them space to sell quality products by building up a [shopping] hub where tourists and locals can’t miss to check out, unlike temporary pop-up markets.”
Scala, however, is lucky. Chulalongkorn University has no plans to shut down the art- deco cinema any time soon.
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