History
Establishment of Golden Communications Circuit (1987–1990)
Golden Screen was founded on 1 April 1987 under the name of Golden Communications Circuit, a joint venture between Hong Kong's Golden Harvest (from which it inherited the studio's iconic Big "G" logo) and the Malaysian Bumiputera conglomerate PPB Group (then Perlis Plantations), the latter of whom operated a small set of Malaysian cinemas leased from Shaw Brothers Studio. There were in the beginning 30 cinemas covering all Malaysia's major cities and towns, and at the time, Golden Harvest and Perlis Plantations owned respectively 70 and 30 percent of the stakes in the joint venture.
The films at that time were showcased in three languages: Malay, English and Chinese, with Golden Harvest in-house films forming majority of the shown movies. The English movies on the other hand were mostly of Hollywood origin, with some exceptions from European Countries.
Acquisition of Cathay Cinemas by Perlis Plantations Berhad (1990–1998)
In June 1990, Perlis Plantations Berhad expanded its entertainment portfolio by acquiring stakes in the Borneo Filem Organisation Sdn Bhd (BFO) from the State Government of Sabah, which later restructured as Cathay Cinemas Sdn Bhd. This strategic purchase brought the Malaysian operations of 33 Cathay Organisation and 33 Golden Communications Cinemas under the same corporate umbrella.
Control of the newly acquired cinema, which was 66.2 percent owned by Cathay Cinemas and the rest by Permodalan Nasional Berhad assumed in October the same year, resulting in termination of services of between 20 to 30 of its employees.
By 1991 however, the shares of Perlis Plantations in Golden Communications had shrunk to just 58.6 per cent to allow investment from other shareholders, while Golden Harvest own the remaining 27 per cent.
On 7 July 1994, Cathay Cinemas signed a joint venture agreement with United Artist Theatre and Wilton Group to expand the cinema network in Malaysia and abroad, forming a joint venture named Premier Cinemas Sdn Bhd.
In 1997, Perlis Plantations restructured its cinemas and leisure operations by injecting Golden Communications Assets into that of Cathay Cinemas Sdn Bhd, creating a new business entity called PPB Leisure Holdings Sdn Bhd. By that time, Cathay cinemas owned the largest chain of cinemas in Malaysia, totaling 47 of them when accounting Premier Cinemas and Cathay Organisation operations.
Brand merger and consolidation into Golden Screen Cinemas and opening of first flagship cineplex (1998–2003)
In January 1998, Golden Communications (GC) Circuit and the Malaysian branch of Cathay Organisation were officially merged and consolidated into one major brand: Golden Screen Cinemas. The newly established cinema chain had 30 cinemas nationwide at the time.
On 2 December 1999, GSC opened the Asia' largest multiplex with 18 Screens - GSC Mid Valley at Mid Valley Megamall. To celebrate this momentous occasion, it gave away 18 local and international movie tickets for free during its one-week Movie Marathon Campaign, with those patrons completed their rounds of all movie watching offered grand prizes like trip to selected tourist destinations, season pass and T-shirts. That very same date, the International Screens concept was introduced at the all-new Mid Valley Branch to distribute highly acclaimed international movies from places like Hong Kong and Hollywood.
On 12 January 2000, Malaysia Book of Records under management of Director Danny Ooi recognised the Mid Valley multiplex as the largest in the country and awarded the title to the cinema chain.
Under PPB Group Leisure subsidiary, losses of the cinema chain have been reduced to RM5.8 million for year 2001 (compared to RM9.7 million in 2000) on a turnover of RM60.3 million (compared to RM59.0 million in 2000) due to diligent cost cutting programme and closure of nonprofitable screens. The standardisation of the entertainment tax rate at 25% effective 1 October 2001 has also enabled the cinema operations to reduce its ticket prices and encourage more patrons. In 2002, the cinema chain managed to turn around to record a pre-tax profit of RM2.75 million (2001: pre-tax loss of RM6.41 million) against a turnover of RM73.68 million (2001: RM55.05 million). Buoyed by further supply of quality films (mainly blockbusters from home as well as abroad like Hollywood), GSC registered a significant growth in pre-tax profit to achieve RM9.02 million against a turnover of RM87.75 million in 2003.
As shopping-mall-based cineplex drew larger crowds in the early 2000s, smaller multiplexes and standalone cinemas began to shut down and consolidate their operations with larger branches. By the end of 2003, there were 16 locations of GSC cineplexes nationwide with a total of 86 halls covering nine states and federal territories – Kedah, Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Johor, Pahang, Sabah, Malacca, Penang, and Negeri Sembilan.
At the same time, GSC continued to improve its customer service and successfully launched its intelligent short message (iSMS) service for tickets reservation.
Expansion into Penang and opening of new cineplexes (2004–2006)
On 11 December 2003, GSC added a second cinema outlet in Penang post-Cathay merger with the launch of a RM18 million 12-screen multiplex at Gurney Plaza in George Town. With more than 1,800 seats at that time, it became the largest cinema in the state as well as in northern Malaysia.
Going further, GSC opened its 9-screen cineplex at Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur in January 2005. In July 2005, GSC opened its 13-screen cineplex at 1 Utama (New Wing), Petaling Jaya which offers THX halls, a 30-seater Gold Class, International Screens as well as special facilities such as ramps and a hydraulic lift for wheelchair-bound patrons. These added the number of GSC branches to 18.
Within this period, GSC recorded a 19% increase in pre-tax profit of RM10.73 million against a turnover of RM104.24 million in 2004, followed by record profits of RM17.96 million, with increase of 51.4% (2004 : RM11.86 million) against a higher revenue of RM120.28 million in 2005 and RM18.9 million against revenue of RM124.8 million in 2006.
Stakes acquisition from Golden Harvest and further expansion of cineplexes (2007-)
On 28 November 2006, PPB Leisure Holdings Sdn Bhd (PPBL) entered into a Share Sale and Separation Agreement (SSSA) with Golden Harvest Film Distribution Holding Limited (GH) to acquire GH’s entire 40.2% equity interest in GSC at a total cash consideration of RM91 million. The SSSA was completed on 28 February 2007, increasing PPB group's 54.2% stake in GSC to 94.4%.
