KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 ― After carrying out what it said was the largest ticket refund exercise in the company's history, local chain TGV Cinemas is “elated” it would be able to screen Disney's previously-shelved Beauty and the Beast film from next Thursday onwards.
Confirming that the Beauty and the Beast film will be shown “in its full form” with no cuts at all, TGV Cinemas declined to comment on the reasons for the film's return to Malaysian screens and said it was between Disney and the Film Censorship Board (LPF).
“However, as TGV Cinemas, we're elated that we can bring this live action classic to the silver screens,” the cinema chain's head of marketing services Celeste Koay told Malay Mail Online late last night.
She said TGV Cinemas had immediately reignited all its promotions and plans for the movie after being notified by Disney on Tuesday afternoon that it would premiere locally on March 30.
Koay said the length of period that Beauty and the Beast will be playing in TGV's outlets will depend on the “market's demand for it”, noting that it already has a slate of big summer blockbusters such as new installments from the Fast and Furious, Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers franchises.
Koay said the Beauty and the Beast film has been given a PG13 rating, which requires viewers aged below 13 to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
“As our normal practice, we advise our customers during ticket buying point of the rating and during the ticket tearing point, our frontliners will ensure patrons are at a certain age or accompanied by adults.
“A lot of people say that TGV has the strictest checking point but we have to do what we have to do,” she said.
Koay said TGV Cinemas had already processed a majority of the refunds for the tickets previously sold for Beauty and the Beast ― which was initially scheduled to be released in Malaysia on March 16 but was announced last week to be indefinitely postponed for “internal review”.
“We intended to book them into new dates but we did not receive any details when the movie would be released until today. It was a bit tough so we went ahead to announce the refund last week to keep our customers happy,” she said.
She said walk-in customers could request for refunds of the previous tickets sold for Beauty and the Beast, while TGV Cinemas gave automatic refunds to online customers by processing it from the details received during their ticket purchases online.
“In fact, we even gave those customers additional movie passes and candy bar offers as part of token of appreciation for their unwavering support to TGV cinemas. It was the largest refund exercise we have ever done,” she said.
It was previously uncertain if Beauty and the Beast would be screened here, following Disney Malaysia's refusal to cut scenes involving a gay character as proposed by LPF.
LPF chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid had previously explained that the LPF had proposed cuts of four minutes and 38 seconds from the live-remake of the classic Disney animation, due to film director Bill Cordon's announcement that the movie contained a first “exclusively gay moment”.
Prior to yesterday's news that Beauty and the Beast would be screened in Malaysia after all, Disney Malaysia was previously reported to have filed an appeal with the Home Ministry against the cuts and postponed the Malaysian release to March 30 to give local authorities time to decide.
However on the heels of the Beauty and the Beast controversy, TGV Cinemas has now halted its advance ticket sales for Power Rangers after reports emerged that the movie will feature Hollywood’s first gay superhero.
