Eerie bowling alley & cinema left abandoned after devastating blaze engulfed mall and burnt shoppers alive
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FROZEN IN TIME
Photographer Dax Ward said it felt more like he'd stepped into a cave or underground tunnel than a former cinema
- Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital)
ONCE a bustling bowling alley and cinema, this complex now serves only as a haunting reminder of a deadly fire.
Film posters sit propped against a charred wall among rubble while burnt bowling pins lay discarded on the ground.
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Hundreds of thrill-seekers would flock to the Major Hollywood venue in Bangkok, Thailand each week for years.
But as the years went on customer numbers dropped.
The final blow came in May 2016 when a fire engulfed the building after breaking out in a nearby pub and spreading.
Two people were killed and harrowing photos show plumes of smoke seeping out of the site.
Since closing its doors nine years ago, the venue has been repeatedly targeted by spineless thieves.
Photographer Dax Ward was given permission to go inside the abandoned building with his friend and paranormal investigator Kang.
He said he was stunned to find thieves had stripped so much out of the building - including cushions off cinema seats.
Dax told The Sun: "I've explored a lot of abandoned cinemas and even a 100-year-old bowling alley, but never an entire complex like this.
"Major Hollywood was a rare chance to explore a contemporary space similar to those I’ve actually spent time in while they were still thriving.
"There was this one corner where purple stickers on the windows turned the dark interior into something ethereal.
"That moment of colour - beauty against the squalor - is exactly what I look for when I explore."
Dax said it felt more like he'd stepped into a cave or underground tunnel than a former cinema.
"It was pitch black in most areas, the kind of darkness where you can’t see your hand in front of your face," he said.
"What made this place stand out wasn’t just the decay—it was the familiarity.
"I’ve been to other 'Major' locations in Bangkok when they were alive with light, sound, and people.
"Walking through this silent version gave me chills. I didn’t have to imagine what it was like - it was already part of my memory.
"I was shocked by how run-down it had become.
"The fire in 2016, combined with relentless looting, stripped the place of nearly everything—even the cushions from the cinema seats were gone."
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thesun
