Now, I've never been to this cinema in Macau and can't say whether or not the interior scenes were really filmed there, but I will err on the side of yes because until the 90's the cinema had a large 1000 seat auditorium with a balcony - just like in the film. My other argument is from a logistical point of view - why take a crew out to Macau and film an exterior when you can do the interior at the same time. If anyone can confirm the interior scenes are real and not a sound stage it would be much appreciated.
The some more scenes outside as the audience decides to put Bruce on their shoulders and carry him around in triumph.
And finally a quick glitchy grab from Streetview that shows the cinema building in its entirety.
3 comments:
Confirmed! Here's a photo of the inside of the Cineteatro Macau in late 2013:
https://instagram.com/p/hOC7duQdkT/
And here's another from just ten weeks ago:
https://instagram.com/p/2KdMTTLl2e/?taken-by=0918_ajl
Looks like they've barely changed it inside at all! Pretty clear that's the same theater. :-)
gweilo8888 - nice find, thanks for the confirmation. I can only guess that it was the only nearby venue that fitted the film makers requirements. Most, if not all, of the large capacity cinemas in HK have long gone. Even the famous Queen's - where the Premiere for Way of the Dragon was shown - has now gone the way of the dodo...
Glad to help as always! The cinema was a rare treat when I was a kid -- going to the movies wasn't really something my family did much. I pretty-much always went to either the Ocean Theatre or Harbour City Cinema.
Other than those two, and a single gimmicky movie somewhere out in Tsuen Wan (I think) which had cinema seats that were timed to move in sync with what was shown on-screen, sadly I don't think I went to any other Hong Kong theaters when I lived there.
I do remember back when they still had hand-painted, multi-storey marquees outside them, though. The Astor Theatre in Yau Ma Tei, in particular, sticks in my mind... Used to absolutely love the artwork on them!
My understanding is that Ocean Theatre has been gutted and reduced from 1,772 seats to just 432, a pale imitation of its former self. (Back when I used to go there, the theatre was on two levels, and you paid different prices depending on whether you were on the balcony or in the stalls beneath.) And it seems that Harbour City Cinema is gone completely, no doubt replaced by some horrifically tacky fashion store aimed at newly-minted mainlanders. Ah well, such is life!
And as for whatever the one with the moving seats was, I'm not even entirely sure where it was located but I doubt it lasted long. (I went there in the early 90s or perhaps very late 80s.) I'm also not sure what the technology was called -- perhaps 4D or VMAX, or something like that? I seem to remember it basically being an IMAX screen, but with seats that moved a few inches -- perhaps a foot, at most -- as an entire row in unison, and you had to wear a seatbelt. It wasn't timed to the video very well, from what I can remember, so it just came across as really gimmicky. The idea's a precursor to things like D-BOX and 4DX today, though...
Post a Comment