Golden Screen Cinemas Sdn Bhd (GSC), the leading cinema exhibitor and distributor in Malaysia, aims to grow its revenue by five per cent to 10 per cent this year from RM300 million last year.

This will be driven by the establishment of new cinemas and revenue contribution from the company's distribution segment.

GSC General Manager Irving Chee said the company had allocated RM150 million to set up nine cinemas with 95 screens over the next two years, of which one was already opened in Miri, Sarawak.

"We hope to open another three this year in Kuching (Sarawak), Seremban (Negeri Sembilan) and Nu Sentral (Kuala Lumpur).

"We have already signed two more sites, which is in IOI City Mall (Putrajaya) and Aman Central (Alor Setar, Kedah) for next year and we will continue to negotiate for more sites for future development," he told Bernama in an interview.

On the movie segment, Chee said the group continued to buy movies from the US, Europe, Hong Kong, China, while for its operations in Laos and Cambodia, it invested in some Malaysian movies, both in Malay and Chinese languages.

"We hope to be able to offer more varieties of movies, that is our aim. We also organise various film festivals, like the French film festival, European film festival and Japan film festival, just to bring more variety of movies to Malaysians," he added.

In order to keep ticket prices affordable, GSC has introduced the GSC LITE cinema concept, which embodies entertainment in a lighter, modest and accessible manner to cater to small market centres without compromising on the quality of pictures and sound.

"So far, we have opened it in Mentakab in Pahang, Sungai Petani in Kedah and Miri. Hopefully next year we will have another one GSC LITE cinema," Chee said, adding the company spent around RM15-20 million for one GSC LITE cinema that offer 10 screens.

The company has also revamped its website and e-Payment system recently to cater to the current needs of movie-goers and e-Concession will be introduced before year-end.

GSC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PPB Group Bhd, currently has a total of 228 screens in 27 locations nationwide.

Besides movies, GSC halls also cater for events like gala premiers, press conference, product launches and seminars.