THE SM Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (SMLEI) has recently launched the Director’s Club Cinema at the SMaison retail complex in Pasay City.
Edgar Tejerero, president of SM Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (SLEI), said the opening of Director’s Club is another innovation from the SM group. Located within the newly opened Conrad Hotel in the SM Complex, Tejerero pointed out the Director’s Club is the first hotel-based cinema in the country.
“We’ve always been the leader in innovation in terms of cinema. As you know, we brought Imax cinema in the Philippines. We also introduced the first residential condominium-based cinema at SM Light Residences in Mandaluyong City,” Tejerero said.
He added that the plan to introduce innovation in its cinemas is based on the request of customers for SM to introduce a “newer breed of SM cinema.”
“In fact, the Director’s Club of SMaison is a preview of what yet to come. We’re engaging ourselves in a big innovation and big changes in terms of look and experience. This is the preview of what to come,” Tejerero said.
He noted that SMLEI has been introducing innovations in their cinemas based on research and customer feedback. In their research, Tejerero said they found out that cinema-goers prefer smaller movie; houses because they now give more premium to privacy and bigger security. For the current generation of moviegoers, he said, a bigger cinema is less private and less secured. “From then on, we are trying to reduce the sizes and seating capacity of cinemas. And the only way to make it financially viable is to provide a premium experience,” he explained.
Starting August this year and the next two to three years, he said SMLEI will built 16 cinemas with small screens in the different malls around Metro Manila
He said the SMLEI does not foresee any competition with SM Mall of Asia because it has the mallgoers as its target market.
He said the Director’s Club Cinema was created to service the latest addition to the Hilton properties, the Conrad Hotel, which is situated atop the new and superior retail complex, SMaison.
The cinema will have three theaters in totality, with a capacity of only 40 seats per theater. The cinema houses La-Z-Boy Power Recline XR+ seats, which boast of its rocker recliner, power headrest and lumbar, promising customized comfort and effortless reclining at varied angles, all through a simple click of the control.
As each film room is purposefully created to be intimate in number and size, SMLEI said each seat assures the best angle for movie watching. To compliment your top-of-the-line movie experience, each patron is served a complimentary bowl of freshly popped popcorn upon arrival.
Other innovations SMLEI introduced in the country are the XD:4D Cinema, which brings your favorite film to life through its intense motion seats, Blink Cinema stand-alone theaters for the benefit of residents in far-flung provincial areas, and the large-screen format cinema that boasts of the brightest lights on screen, bringing the most immense movie quality right in the comfort of your theater seat.