Feeling like you miss the glamor of the single screen theatres with a balcony, feeling tired of the claustrophobia of a small auditorium. Well, you are not alone. Lots of people around the world are beginning to miss those big conventional theatre halls as evident from the research found on the Internet pertaining to the 'preservation of theatres' whether it's for reasons of sentimental nostalgia, or as an historic landmark.

Now and then, we still find some good conventional halls around, one that is big, spacious, tall and full of ambience.

The 'CATHAY THEATRE' in Ipoh, Malaysia is one such theatre. Of the several Cathays in Singapore and Malaysia that have closed, been demolished or converted to multiplexes, CATHAY IPOH (dubbed the CATHAY) is here to stay. DTS was even implemented on May 1, 1998. The theatre was also repainted in early September 1998.

Built around late 1956/early 1957, it opened on Thursday August 31, 1957 with the musical 'The King and I'. From then on, it had always been the premium hall of choice for distributors, patrons and corporations wishing to display their pre-movie commercials.

While other theatres in the world are preserved for their own reasons such as the silent movie era, Renaissance era, Gothic architecture etc, the 'Cathay' is preserved to commemorate the era of wide screen presentation of movies in 70mm and Cinemascope. The recent and continuos upgrade of this theatre indicates we are ready to move on into the 21st century.