Vivo City Shanghai developer Mapletree Group has signed up a cinema chain as a key anchor of the development, currently under construction.
A 15 year lease has been signed by Pegasus Entertainment Holdings for a two-story cinema complex taking up the top two floors of Vivo City Singapore, which will be branded Cinema City.
Vivo City is being built in the CBD district of Minxing in Shanghai, with the Singapore-based developer expecting construction to be complete by the first quarter of 2016.
Vivo City is planned to be a new landmark in Southwest Shanghai with a GFA of 120,000 sqm, featuring over 280 shops and over 2600 parking spaces. It is located next to seven office towers and above two metro lines with excellent connectivity to the Hongqiao airport and nearby five densely populated residential communities.
Pegasus’ directors said they believe such a large scale development will bring “a vibrant and diversified customer stream” and attract a majority of the district’s foot traffic to the mall which will directly benefit the cinema business.
Pegasus says it plans to replicate the success of its flagship cinema in Hong Kong – Cinema City Langham Place – in mainland China. Cinema City Shanghai will feature “the most advanced projection and sound systems”, including the exclusive viewing technology 4DX originated from South Korea, to bring “a new and unprecedented film viewing experience to PRC top-tier cities”.
The Vivo City cinema complex will feature at least nine screens with some 1400 seats.
Cinema City Langham Place, which officially opened in early January this year after renovation, is ranked first in terms of box office income among all cinemas in Hong Kong, according to statistics from Hong Kong Box Office System.
“Given the high-end cinema business model under the brand Cinema City has been proven successful, this will be a stamp of approval for the group’s development strategy and growth potential in the film exhibition business going forward,” said Pegasus in a statement.
