Movie viewing at theatres in Bangkok

Bangkok offers a lot of sight-seeing and entertainment. But if you enjoy watching a movie in a comfortable theatre, Bangkok also gives you ample opportunity.
Nowadays there are hardly any more stand-alone movie theatres (you will find the Lido, Scala and Siam theatres at Siam Square), but most theatres are incorporated in small shopping arcades, or bigger shopping centers.
There are a couple of movie theatre chains in Thailand. The largest cinema group is the Major Cineplex Group, a merger of EGV and Major Cineplex. Another group is SF Cinema City Organization, which operates SF Cinema City complexes in Bangkok (including SFX Cinema at Emporium Shopping Center). SF Cinema City also operates under the name SF Multiplex. SF Central World Cinemas (at Central World Plaza) also belongs to this group.
[the websites of the cinema groups mentioned seem to be only in Thai language]

So there are many theatres scattered around Bangkok. Unfortunately, the lower Sukhumvit area, where lots of long-term residents live, and where many hotels are located, seems to have been forgotten. So if you want to go and see a movie, you have to take some public transport to get to a theatre.

Movie theatres in Bangkok offer quite comfortable seating, very good quality of sound and picture, all at an attractive price. Standard fare seems to be between 100 and 140 baht per ticket. Most multiplex theatres offer also movie viewing in smaller theatres, with reclining seats, a free drink, some more privacy at rates of 300-600 baht. But take if from me, the regular seats are more than comfortable enough.

What is on offer? Mostly all the recent Hollywood blockbusters. They are mostly shown in Bangkok at the same time as in U.S., probably to avoid loss of revenue due to prolific piracy. Typically a recent movie will be shown in ALL locations, and often in many theatres at the same multiplex. You will have difficulty finding lesser known movie pictures in Bangkok. If you want to see a particular movie, you also must hurry. Annoying is that most movies are preceded by really prolonged advertising. Advertising can go on for half an hour. The advantage is that you do not really have to be on time, to get to see the main feature.

Movies are usually not shown for prolonged periods, but disappear after a week or two. Weekends and first showings can be very busy, but during the daytime on a regular weekday, you will find a lot of empty seats.

Almost always the English soundtrack is used with Thai translation. However, if a movie contains another language than English, often the other language used in only translated in Thai, not in English. The Da Vinci Code movie, for example, was a little difficult to understand in Thailand, because the Latin and French language dialogue was not translated.

It is easy to know which movies are currently shown, but knowing the schedule is another matter. Newspapers usually provide this service, but not in Bangkok. The advertisements in the English-language publications such as the Bangkok Post and the Nation leave much to be desired. To get the schedules we suggest you use www.movieseer.com . When looking for screening times, you should attempt to notice the different times for screenings in the regular theatres (about 120-140 baht) and in the smaller luxury theatres (300-600 baht range).
Traditionally, there are no late night movies shown, but this may be changing, since we noticed that Paragon Cineplex has showings at midnight.

Which movie theatres in Bangkok to recommend? The quality of the theatres is basically good everywhere, so the location of particular theatres becomes most important. We suggest you go to movie theatres located close to the skytrain stations.
Siam Paragon Cineplex is easy to reach (located at Siam Square main skytrain station). There are 9 regular theatres at Siam Paragon and 5 IMAX theatres. Among the 'regular theatres' there are a few smaller luxury theatres that are called Nokia Ultra Screens. Tickets are 500 baht, which will give you separate seating arrangements (in small cubicles for two people), a complementary non-alcoholic drink, and a blanket to protect you from the prevalent 'cold conditions' in most movie theatres. Buying more expensive tickets will not save you from prolonged advertising before the main event. We suggest you stay outsite the theatre in the separate plush lobby, and enter approximately 20 minutes after announced screening times.
IMAX shows a different kind of movies, and seems mostly to cater to nature lovers.
SFX Cinema at Emporium (Phrompong skytrain station) is also easy to reach. However, there is a minor problem when exiting the theatre after closing time (of the shopping center), when you will be directed to the car park basement, and then will have to try to find your way back to Sukhumvit Road.
The Major Cineplex Sukhumvit is relatively close to Ekamai Skytrain station (about 500 meters walk, but you have to cross a rather 'nasty' street to get there).

The cheapest movie viewing is available in the original (before the arrival of the multiplexes) movie theatres on the south side of Siam Square. Along the skytrain station you will find three separate smaller theaters, named Siam, Lido and Scala. Tickets are 100 baht. The seating arrangements are adequate and clean, but not fancy. When visiting these theaters, you enter Siam Square proper, a conglomerate of smaller shops. It is somewhat interesting to walk around a bit, and look at all the trinkets shops, fashion wear, tattoo shops etc.
Besides the pricing, much less advertising is shown, and the time of screening as indicated on Movieseer.com, corresponds approximately to the start of the featured movie. This is not the case for other theaters. For example, the movie start time for the theaters at Siam Paragon, actually indicates the start of the commercials (about half an hour of them).
These small theaters also sometimes get it right, when scheduling films. For example, we viewed 'Their will be blood' in February 2008. At the time, Lido theater was the only theater with this movie scheduled.

Sorry if we only recommend these locations along the Siam Square-Sukhumvit axis, but that is where we live and travel, and where actually a lot of foreigners reside.

A Review of Movie Theatres in Bangkok - Major Cineplex Group ; SF Cinema City Organization

Movie Theatres in Bangkok