Megaria movie house in Jakarta

MEGARIA MOVIE House is the oldest cinema and the only remaining large Art Deco building in Jakarta.^_[1] The Decree of the Governor of the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta No. 475 Year 1993 categorizes this architectural heritage as Class A Heritage Building, on the basis that the building is already more than fifty years old. The premise enjoys a highly strategic location on the corner of Pegangsaan Street and Diponegoro Street, Central Jakarta, interlinking the streets going to the Hotel Indonesia roundabout, Cikini, Matraman, and Manggarai.

The cinema, which in its early day was called the Metropole, was built on August 11, 1949, and finished in 1951.^_[2] Present at the official opening were such eminent figures as Rahmi Rachim, wife of Vice President Mohammad Hatta; the King of Yogyakarta, Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX (1912 – 1988); and “the Grand Old Man” of the Indonesian politics, Haji Agus Salim (1884 – 1954).^_[3] At the opening show, the film Annie Get Your Gun (George Sidney, 1950) was screened.^_[4]

Many people thought that this cinema had been designed by a Dutch architect, Johannes Martinus (Han) Groenewegen. In truth, the architect of Metropole cinema was Liauw Goan Seng (before his granddaughter, Ifke M. Laquais, corrected it in 2007, the architect’s name had commonly been written as ‘Lauw Goan Sing’),^_[5] who left Indonesia in 1958 to move to the Netherlands upon the introduction of the naturalization policy.^_[6] Liauw Goan Seng designed the Metropole cinema in the style of the Art Deco—from Art Decorative—which formed a part of the Art Nouveau development in world architecture. Compared to the Art Nouveau style, which is signified by the multitude of decorative ornaments such as glass mosaic, pictures, and intertwined organic patterns and carvings, the Art Deco style shows less complexity and looks a lot simpler.^_[7]

Using such devices as blowers and exhausts, the cinema, which seated 1,446, was quite a pleasing place at the time.^_[8] The 11,623 m² land on which it stood did not only house the cinema.^_[9] Like Capitol and Menteng movie houses,^_[10] Metropole cinema was surrounded by shops and entertainment venues. The floor above the cinema hosted a ballroom. On the cinema’s right were fabric shops.^_[11]

Aside from the sense of grandeur that the architecture conveyed, the coolness of the place, and the availability of other facilities in the area, another significant factor that made Metropole cinema one of the first-class movie houses at the time was the screening of popular American films. In this cinema, we could enjoy a range of films, from War and Peace (King Vidor, 1956) to Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939), as well as the charm of the famous blonde Marilyn Monroe and the charisma of Robert Mitchum.^_[12]

In the early fifties, as one of the upmarket cinemas, Metropole was a member of a first-class cinema organization. One of the most famous organizations at the time was the United Cinemas Combination, consisting of Menteng, Astoria, Capitol, Cinema Grand, Happy, Sin Thu, and Globe movie houses. The Metropole cinema itself, along with Cathay, Garden Hall, Mayestic, Orion, Roxy, and Podium cinemas, joined rank in the Independent Cinemas.^_[13] These first-class cinemas screened films produced by Paramount, United Artists, J. Arthur Rank, and MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer).^_[14] Metropole cinema screened mostly movies by MGM.

The large number of American films screened at the Metropole, however, did not prevent the cinema from playing a significant role in the development of Indonesian movies. In 1955, the film Krisis (Usmar Ismail, 1955) was screened at Metropole. This was one of the most important events in the history of Indonesian films. Initially, Krisis (Crisis), directed by Usmar Ismail (the man who would later be considered as the father of Indonesian films, born in 1921 and died in 1971), was going to be screened at Capitol Theater.^_[15] In the fifties, and even on to the seventies, it was very difficult to screen any Indonesian movie at an upmarket cinema. Usually, Indonesian films were screened only at the “C-class cinemas”.^_[16] Usmar Ismail’s confidence in his movie was met with a taunt by Weskin, the manager of Capitol Theater, and it was said that the film director could not contain himself and hit the manager.^_[17] Lie Khik Hwie, Metropole’s general manager, subsequently welcomed the movie in spite of the objection from MGM representative in Indonesia. Lie Khik Hwie was undeterred. He said that MGM, which had no share whatsoever in his company, had no right to tell him what to do and he threatened to withdraw the contract with MGM.^_[18] MGM eventually allowed Krisis to be screened, which caused some changes in the screening schedule for the films in its distribution. Krisis proved to be a huge success. Having broken the record for the number of audience, which had been held by the film Terang Boelan (The Moonlight, by Albert Balink, 1937),^_[19] Krisisbecame the first Indonesian movie to enjoy commercial success at a first-class cinema, and it was screened for five weeks on end, longer than the normal screening period enjoyed by films from the West.^_[20]

At the end of the day, the access that this particular Indonesian movie enjoyed to Metropole cinema was not extended to other Indonesian films. The movie houses still took into account the aspect of good ticket sales. In 1955, however, the Metropole, along with several other movie houses, became one of the cinemas that screened films made by participants to the First Indonesian Film Festival held on March 30 to April 5, 1955, on the eve of the first general election in Indonesia.^_[21] In 1970, Metropole cinema, which at the time had changed its name into Megaria, was also one of the supporting movie houses for the event of the sixteenth Asian Film Festival, hosted in Jakarta in April – May 1970. Apart from the Megaria movie house, other cinemas that also supported the event were Apollo, Star, City, Gelora, Menteng, Royal, Krekot, Satria, and the Orient.^_[22]



* * *


Megaria cinema—which now goes by the name of Metropole XXI—has indeed undergone a series of name-changes. In 1960, following the order of President Soekarno (1901 – 1971), Metropole cinema changed its “foreign-sounding” name to Megaria. During the New Order era, there was a time when it was called the Megaria Theater. In 1989, when the cinema was leased to the 21 Cineplex network, its name was changed into Metropole 21,^_[23] and then changed again to Megaria 21, before finally in 2008—after the shock wave caused by the news about the sale of the cinema—it was renovated by 21 Cineplex and the name became Metropole XXI. This name remains until today. So far, however, people still call it by its old familiar name of Megaria.

In its golden days, the premise formed a part of the urban lifestyle in Jakarta. Citizens of the capital city were able to watch latest American films there. The cinema was visited by people from all walks of life—from actresses such as Citra Dewi and Rima Melati, to state ministers, politicians, students, and office workers. Everyone had his or her chance to watch movies at the Metropole cinema. “The most satisfying thing was to take your partner to watch a movie in the loge class,” Suditomo, an ex-employee at the State Secretariat, reminisced. In the mid-fifties, he was a student at the Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia. The ‘loge’ was the first class, for which the ticket to its cheap matinee show on Saturday afternoons cost Rp4.00 per person, roughly equal to Rp15,000.00 today.^_[24] The golden era of the Megaria cinema stayed on to the seventies.

In the early eighties,  the atmosphere in the world of movie houses changed. It was the time when upper-class movie houses started to close down one by one. People mentioned a range of things that might have caused the decline—from the flourishing television stations and their programs, the large number of video rentals that rented out original videos as well as pirated ones, the worsening traffic jams in many cities, the number of cinemas that had reached 162 and was considered too high, and the large varieties of cinema categories and the too-wide gaps in the ticket prices. The films that were screened at the time had mostly been those with a focus on either the female legs or bloody cleavers (or both)—and this was especially true for the Indonesian films. Understandably, these films were not particularly appealing. At the same time, imported films became increasingly limited. In 1984, there were only 180 imported titles, compared to 600 titles in the previous decade. To make things worse, people could watch some of these movies on pirated videos.

At the time, the Megaria was one of the cinemas that managed to stay open. It had better fate compared to other cinemas, although its audience reached merely 30% of its seating capacity. Words on the street, however, said that its strategic location and ample space had been a target of desire for many business people who wanted to turn it into shops and offices.^_[25]

The decline in the number of the audience and the sluggishness in the movie house business in Jakarta and other large Indonesian cities took place at the same time when the American concept of Cineplex was introduced. Cinemas that initially had large seating capacities, such as those with thousands of seats, were divided into several smaller screening rooms, allowing for more screenings and smaller audience.

The first cinema to apply the concept of a Cineplex, which at the time was dubbed a “Siamese-twin cinema”,^_[26]  was Kartika Chandra in Central Jakarta. In 1984, the cinema divided itself into three screening rooms.^_[27] The Megaria cinema followed suit in 1986 by adding another screen without actually dividing the existing spaces as it used another building at the back, thus turning it into a cinema with two screening rooms, Megaria I and II. Still, it did not have the luck enjoyed by Kartika Chandra. Megaria I maintained its large seating capacity, but with only 300 – 400 people in the audience, the 1000-odd available seats were barely filled. Similarly in Megaria II, in four screenings, no more than a total of 150 people came. To break even, Megaria I and II needed to have, respectively, 500 and 200 people in the audience.^_[28]

The high incidence of bankruptcy, however, did not discourage the the movie house entrepreneurs, especially those with huge capitals and strong access to the bureaucracy. In 1987, Subentra, a joint company owned by Sudwikatmono and Benny Suherman, opened a new cinema called ‘Studio 21’ on Thamrin Road, Central Jakarta. After the opening of Studio 21, which also applied the concept of Cineplex, Subentra with its 21 Cineplex network swiftly incorporated the old cinemas into its group. Within a short time, a number of cinemas became transformed and had new names, each with the addition of the two figures after its new name. Tamara Theatre became Amigo 21. Rawamangun Theatre was turned into Astor 21. Megaria Theatre became Metropole 21. The incorporation of these old cinemas into 21 Cineplex network took place through the lease of the old cinema buildings, divesting the old owners of the right to manage the venues. From April 1989 onward, the owner of Metropole 21 would simply be enjoying a rental of Rp7.5 million per month for a lease of five years (the rental would increase by 5% each year).^_[29] 21 Cineplex group divided the Metropole 21 cinema into six screening studios. Four studios occupied the front building, and two at the back, in the building that also housed Hero Supermarket. Subsequently, Metropole 21 became Megaria 21.


* * *


In the 2000s, the only change that we could see on the frontage of Megaria 21 cinema was the addition of six advertisement boards for the films being screened. There was no other significant change apart from the small room at the front door, which had functioned as the ticket box but now converted into an acupressure parlor as the ticket sales were now conducted inside the building. The ballroom above was converted into a venue for billiards. The fabric shops now became Barber Shop Megaria, Pempek Megaria (a small restaurant serving pempek, a fish product, a specialty from South Sumatra), a premise offering telephone services (wartel), and a restaurant serving oxtail soup and kambalijo chicken. The rear building housed Studio 5 and 6. The land that housed this building had previously been used for a military housing complex. The side of the rear building that faced Diponegoro Street had been leased to Hero Supermarket before finally housed Giant Supermarket. The grilled chicken restaurant at the back of the main building had purportedly been there since the seventies.

All the facilities on the site further re-invigorated the activities there and encouraged people to come and watch films at Megaria. Its strategic location did not only make it a place of nostalgia for many, but also allowed it to be a silent witness to many historic events. Its close proximity to the offices of PDI, PPP, and Golkar political parties, as well as its central location, made it a place where the students gathered during the Reform movement to topple the New Order regime. Prior to that, the cinema’s front yard/parking space had also served as a place where many people took a refuge when the PDI office was raided during the July 27 incident in 1996.

It was such memories that were immediately brought to mind in the discussions on a range of internet forums and in mass media when on March 8, 2007,^_[30] the news spread about the sale of Megaria cinema. Megaria’s owner offered the land and the cinema for sale, with a selling price of Rp15 million per m², or around Rp151.099 billion in total. The ad was published on http://indorealestates.com.^_[31]

The publication of the ad worried many people. Megaria was the only remaining historical old cinemas in Jakarta. Its status as a Class A Heritage Building indeed protects it from being demolished, but that will not prevent changes in the building’s function, and neither does it forbid the owner to sell the building and the land.

There had presumably been many offers. Some wanted to make a road through it, others wished to build a mall there, claiming that they had obtained written permissions from the Regional Government.^_[32] The Cultural and Museum Agency of the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta confirmed, however, that they would not let the building be demolished. Even if the new owner wished to change the function of the building or develop the surrounding area, he or she would be required to obtain a written permission from the Board of Conservation of the Cultural and Museum Agency. A change in the building’s function would be allowed, but it should not disturb the existing structure and architecture of the building.

The other parts of the Megaria building might be torn down—i.e. the shopping center, the restaurants, etc., because they are not considered as parts of the cultural heritage building. But if the new owner wished to tear down the cinema building itself, the Regional Government of the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta itself would oppose the plan.

In 2008, all those apprehensions vanished. The old owner of Megaria cinema cancelled the plan to sell the premise. 21 Cineplex extended its lease and restored the building, transforming its interior to match the upper-class cinemas in the XXI group—a new class of cinemas in the 21 Cineplex network. The exterior of the building was also refurbished. The advertisement board that used to cover a part of the façade has been taken down, while the downward, vertical Metropole sign that had been dismantled was reinstalled. The changes make the cinema look like its younger version. The Metropole cinema now stands impressively in its original look, faithfully accompanying the Jakarta urbanites in their journeys.




OUR MOVIE HOUSE is a page created based on the collaboration between Kineforum, an alternative cinema in Jakarta, and Karbonjournal.org. Here we provide the space in which a range of movie houses all across Indonesia can be profiled. It is a supporting program for the History of Indonesian Movie Houses exhibition, a part of the event “Sejarah adalah Sekarang” (History is Today) during the Indonesian Film Month, held yearly in Jakarta. You can also participate by taking pictures and collecting visual documents of the cinema in your town, writing the profile of the cinema as well as your experience about it. You can write about existing cinemas or those that are no longer standing. This effort will allow us to have an archive of movie houses all across Indonesia. This will be a significant archive because a cinema is a place for watching movies, for meeting, appreciations, and discussions. Any cinema is bound to have a rich history and it is certainly full of memories for each one of us. To achieve this goal, we are open for any possible collaboration—whether on the institutional or on the individual level—which might drive this project forward. Do not hesitate to send us your information and writing.