Taichung's long-delayed NT$2.1 billion pop music and video center is finally due to open late this year, but city councillors worry it will end up as just another commercial movie theater.

• The venue sat empty for years and got tagged a "white elephant" before the city handed operations to ADATA Technology.
• Word that Vieshow Cinemas will move in has raised fears the original cultural mission is being dropped.
• The city's information bureau promises nine screens with motion seats and immersive fan-event theaters, billed as Taiwan's first mixed-use cinema complex.
• The site was first planned as a central Taiwan film center and was once meant to house the national comics museum, which moved elsewhere in 2019.
• Councillors want Taichung to copy South Korea's "K-Content" playbook, tying animation, comics, games and video into one industry.

Outlook: Pressure will stay on the city to prove the venue delivers real animation and video content instead of turning into an ordinary multiplex.