A fire rises at Dark Knight movie screening

The Dark Knight Rises lived up to its poster’s claim: “A fire will rise”.

The curtains in a Cathay Causeway Point theatre screening the Batman movie suddenly burst into flames just 10 minutes into the movie.

Liew Jia Jing, 20, a fan of the Batman trilogy, had booked a pair of tickets to the movie the night before.

Mr Liew said: “All of a sudden, I heard the people who were seated just next to the curtains shout: ‘Fire! Fire!’ I was quite shocked.”

The fire, the size of an A4 paper, had started in the middle section of the curtain.

While some surprised moviegoers stood up from their seats and pointed at the fire, more than half of the audience calmly continued watching the movie, said Mr Liew.

He said: “I was sitting right in the middle, so to my right there was the fire and to my left there were people who continued watching the movie. For a while, I didn’t know whether to get out or to continue with the movie.”

Mr Liew said that a person seated near the entrance quickly went out to alert the staff. Within 30 seconds, one staff member arrived with a fire extinguisher and put out the flames. The fire lasted about a minute and no one was hurt.

About four to five staff members then directed all the moviegoers out of the theatre to a queue at the ticketing counter, where they were given free tickets for another time slot.

Unfazed by the blaze, he and his friend caught the next available show at around 4pm. “If I were to watch the movie this weekend, I’m sure it would be crowded and there wouldn’t be any chance of me getting good seats anymore.

“I had also bought popcorn and drinks, and didn’t want to waste it,” he said jokingly.