Cathay Theatre

Cathay Theatre (国泰电影院, Guótài Diànyǐngyuàn) is a cinema on Huaihai Middle Road that opened on 1 January 1932. It is an Art Deco building in the former French Concession, and it has been a Shanghai Outstanding Historical Building since 1994.

The architects were Hongda & Co. (鸿达洋行, Hóngdá Yángháng). Construction began in 1930 and the building was finished in 1931. Foreign investors paid for it. A Pengpai News report describes the reinforced-concrete structure as typical of Art Deco, with strong vertical lines and a stepped central tower.

It opened as the Cathay Grand Theatre (国泰大戏院, Guótài Dàxìyuàn). The first film shown was MGM’s A Free Soul. The theatre closed during the war and reopened in January 1946.

In 1954 the building was taken over and renamed Cathay Cinema. Sources describe the change differently: Pengpai says the Shanghai Municipal Culture Bureau took it over, while Chinese Wikipedia speaks of a public-private partnership. According to Chinese Wikipedia, it was called People’s Cinema (人民电影院) from 1966, and the Cathay name came back in 1979.

In 2003 the single hall of 978 seats was divided into three halls.

The cinema was listed in 1994, in the second batch of Shanghai Outstanding Historical Buildings. On 25 August 2022 it suspended screenings for facility upgrades. Chinese Wikipedia reports that it reopened on 5 January 2024; this has not been confirmed from an official notice.

The building remains a working cinema, so the practical way to see it is to go to a screening or to look at the facade from Huaihai Middle Road. Check current screening times before going.