By Ling Hui
KUCHING, March 7: TGV Cinemas has clarified that the replay of ‘The Batman’ movie at Vivacity here on Saturday (March 5) was not due to the late arrival of VIPs as alleged, but a technical issue at their IMAX hall.
TGV Cinemas made the clarification in an official statement uploaded on social media just minutes ago.
“Upon thorough investigation of the incident for ‘The Batman’ at TGV Vivavity (05/03/2022, 7.15pm), we would like to clarify the reason for delay.
“The session delays were caused due to a technical issue at IMAX hall, and not due to late arrivals of VIPs as has been wrongly stated in some media.
“At no point has TGV issued a statement or official comment to any media outlet confirming this to be the cause of the delay,” it explained, giving assurance that that they honour and treat all guests equally with the utmost priority.
Expressing its understanding that restarting the movie has caused frustration for affected patrons, TGV Cinemas said it wished to provide a detailed explanation for the incident in the spirit of transparency.
It said the morning and afternoon shows in IMAX on March 5 were delayed due to a technical issue, but its team had acted swiftly and fixed the issue for the evening 7.15pm session to start on time.
“However, due to miscommunication, some staff at the entrance presumed the 7.15pm show would also be delayed, at this time approximately 20 per cent of the guests had already entered the hall while the remaining 80 per cent were still waiting at the foyer and entered the hall after the movie had already commenced.
“The decision to stop and restart the movie, we acknowledged has inconvenienced our customers and as stated in our initial statement is not in keeping with our screening policy.
“We assure you that we are taking corrective measures to ensure this is not repeated,” it said.
As a token of apology, TGV Cinemas said all affected patrons are being provided full refunds in addition to receiving two complimentary movie tickets.
Since yesterday (March 6), the incident has gone viral on social media after a Facebook user complained in a post that TGV in Vivacity had restarted ‘The Batman’ movie, 45 minutes after the show had started.
The patron said he had asked for an explanation when the movie was replayed from the beginning and the answer he received from a staff member was that “some customers just came”.
Despite a previous apology notice from TGV Cinemas yesterday, netizens are still furious with the ‘strange’ movie schedule and have been demanding TGV Cinemas to name the ‘late VIPs’. — DayakDaily
