Hong Kong police find teenager's missing pet snake in Sha Tin cinema

A police spokesperson said the snake's disappearance was reported by a 16-year-old boy on Wednesday evening at Tin Sum police station.

The boy and his mother have since collected the pet snake after it was discovered at the cinema.

The force said the snake was a Leiopython, which is a genus of snake in the family Pythonidae.

According to the New Town Plaza website, the only cinema inside the mall is Movie Town, which describes itself as the largest in the New Territories and has more than 1,700 seats in seven theaters.

Movie Town is operated by MCL Cinemas, which posted a notice on Facebook on Thursday announcing that its MX4D theater would be “closed until further notice” due to a “special incident.”

MCL Cinemas issued an update at 12:57 p.m., saying operations had “returned to normal,” adding that affected customers could request a refund or a different screening time if they provided a ticket stub or reservation number within 14 days.

It also said that as per the guidelines, patrons were “strictly prohibited” from bringing pets into its MX4D cinema hall, to prevent pets from getting lost and affecting operations.