MovieTowne Chairman and founder Derek Chin has identified Jamaica and St Lucia, as the next territories for his multi-million dollar Cineplex in his Caribbean expansion drive.

Referring to Jamaica, Chin disclosed that his company has received an invitation to enter the local market as well as invitations to enter the markets of St Vincent, Antigua, St Lucia.

MovieTowne entry in the Jamaican market would disturb Palace Amusement’s monopoly of the local cinema market. Jamaica’s cinema market has been coming out of a period of recession in the 80s and 90s, which saw the closures of many cinemas owing to cheaper options of entertainment such as the advent of pirated videos, satellite dish and cable television.

MovieTowne’s first Cineplex outside of Trinidad and Tobago was in Guyana and is said to be the most significant private sector investment in that country. The Guyana facility is set to open between November and December this year.

MovieTowne has operations at Lot D, MovieTowne Boulevard Audrey Jeffers Highway, Port of Spain; Price Plaza, Endeavour Road, Chaguanas; Corinth Street, San Fernando, all in Trinidad; Gulf View Mall, Lowlands, Tobago and Turkeyen East Coast Demerara, Georgetown, Guyana. Palace Amusement operates the Carib 5 in Cross Roads, Palace Cineplex in Liguanea, Palace Multiplex in Montego Bay and the recently opened Cineplex in Portmore, St Catherine. In recent times there have been a resurgent of moviegoers and MovieTowne intends to benefit from this resurgence with its planned entry into Jamaica and other Caribbean islands.

Chin said: “The brand and MovieTowne and what we have done with it in the last 15 years has drawn the interest in many countries, who are now interested in coming to us. Offers of land or concessions to come and invest in their island or country is something I am working with.”