Cineworld Cinema - Leicester Square

Zappomatic on September 27, 2017 at 11:34 am

CF100: Regarding non-Central Seats, on this occasion I was with a friend with a dodgy knee who needed the aisle to stretch into. The reclining seats don’t have anywhere to recline into (except for the knees of the person behind!) so that could have been pretty unpleasant. I do sometimes prefer an aisle seat myself but don’t book them in the small screens here due to the sound issues.

CF100 on September 26, 2017 at 7:12 pm

theatreofvarieties: Thank you very much, your comments are clearing up a lot of questions that have been floating around in my head!

Suffice it to say that spending £4 million on it wasn’t done whimsically and without very good reason.

Of course—I was just curious. :–)

Sintered tiles http://www.rpgeurope.com/products/product/reapor.html

RPG… I shudder to think of the cost… Alas, I can’t find anyone selling them online.

two decorative brass ones under the projection overhang in the back wall (only decorative part of the 60’s auditorium to survive albeit now sprayed black) in addition to about 300 small grilles under the seating at every level.

I noticed that feature remained—that solves what was another mystery for me. As a teenager, I had thought they were “hatches” that could be opened to sell concessions!

The small grilles I think are visible in your photos of the strip-out—do these date back to the 1927 auditorium?

I hope you won’t mind if I ask a few more questions…

-In the IMAX auditorium, I assume the “boxing out” beneath the ceiling at the screen end and the “kinks” at the ends of the adjacent curved ceiling section cover up parts of the roof structure?

-The IMAX auditorium I estimate to be 120x90ft. max, with the screen moved forward by 40ft. or so from its position in Empire 1?

-I assume there is no baffle wall in the IMPACT auditorium?

-In UNICK Architects' rendering of the IMPACT auditorium, it shows red LED strips on the sidewalls. Were these originally planned but later dropped?

-It seems that the American Seating Company no longer sell auditorium seating. Do you know the model of the seats used in Empire 1?

Zappomatic on September 26, 2017 at 3:08 pm

The trouble with screen 7 (and some of the other wide but shallow auditoriums) is that with the way the audio is set up and balanced, if you’re not sitting in the middle you end up so close to one of the left or right front channels that it almost drowns out the centre dialogue channel.

Screen 6 still does have bottom masking. It’s a slightly claustrophobic auditorium.

I can’t say I’ve found the Superscreen to particularly suffer from its lack of masking as there’s a good level of contrast and sharpness from the current projectors. Conversely the masking isn’t working in some of the smaller screens and they definitely do suffer for it.

PhilipWW on September 26, 2017 at 12:08 pm

I would be interested in knowing what the aspect ratios of all the screens are now.

Screen 1 is presumably the 1.90 digital IMAX ratio. When not used for IMAX presentations, standard 1.85 films will be shown very slightly pillarboxed and Scope films letterboxed at 2.39.

Screen 2 : I hope will be 2.39 Scope when refitted as a 4DX screen. I am not familiar with Cineworld 4DX standards.

Screen 3 Impact I presume is 1.85. I have seen one Scope movie there which by necessity was letterboxed to obtain 2.39. An Empire projectionist did tell me at the time that they were thinking of installing top and bottom masking as it would be better, but I guess nothing came of that.

Screens 4 and 5 were 2.39 Scope with side masking. Screen 4, I thought, was very impressive for the size of the auditorium.

Screen 6 was just 1.85 ‘Flat.’ I only went there once and didn’t like it. If I remember correctly they had bottom up masking to achieve the Scope frame. That may have changed now.

Screens 7, 8 and 9 were 2.39 Scope with side masking. Screen 7 I also thought was an impressive size for the auditorium.

Has anything changed or is anything about to change under Cineworld ?

CF100 on September 21, 2017 at 6:18 pm

theatreofvarieties: Thank you once again for your very informative posts.

That’s great to hear that Cineworld have a 60 year lease on it—I will be able to sleep easier at night knowing this!

My (clearly outdated) understanding was that the casino held the head lease, expiring 2030, with the cinema subleased.

L&R formally objected to windows being installed (as part of the hotel conversion) on the rear of 1-4 Leicester Sq. as it could compromise future development potential. However, permission was granted permission on appeal. (16/00408/TPCON.)

I wonder what you mean by “[Empire 1] had too many things wrong with it and needed too much money just to keep it in one piece”?

I guess the origin of the tiles shall forever have to remain a mystery! I would, however, be interested in the source of the sintered glass tiles that you said were applied to the existing in 2006?

I have some more arcane questions, if you would be kind enough to answer them.

-My third visit to the IMAX auditorium in 2014 was for a late night screening. I noticed that the room temperature was cycling between hot/cold, although this now seems to have been fixed. Empire 1 always had fantastic air conditioning in my experience. The IMAX clearly has four vents in the ceiling, which I assume are for the return? Empire 1 seemed to have vents just behind the edges of each ceiling “cove” and the set for the cove just ahead of the projection booth can be seen in your photo. So, just wondering what changes, other than raising the ductwork, if any, were made to the air conditioning?

-In your photo of the IMAX auditorium—"New ceiling framework“—there is a black area in the middle of the right curved ceiling section. Slightly confused as I thought it was normal practice to attach stretched fabric to (fixings on) plasterboard, and also acoustic absorption behind the stretched fabric? It doesn’t looks like there’s much space for it.

-Was there insulation above the ceiling in Empire 1? I would have expected that it would be required for THX certification?

Thanks for your reply to my photo of the worn out ceiling, shame no-one will apply flocking in-situ these days, I imagine Health and Safety reasons.

theatreofvarieties on September 20, 2017 at 7:43 am

it cost £4 million to convert and make the two auditoriums, would have paid back in less than three years but obviously paid back in spades when Cineworld purchased it. Commercially it was a necessity, you can disagree all you like and pitch in theoretical sounding ideas ‘that would definitely have worked’ but at the end of the day, it lost a lot of money because the auditorium was too big, never filled except on (loss making) premieres and had too many things wrong with it and needed too much money just to keep it in one piece and a like for like refurbishment would not have promised as much additional product and custom as an IMAX would (and has!) Empire are still based in the old dressing rooms and tank room that is accessed from Leicester place. There were no financial issues involved in the sale, Cineworld approached Empire and paid silly money just because they desperately wanted a leicester square cinema and they wanted to buy market share so they could beat Odeon consistantly. Empire is structured exactly the same as Odeon, each cinema is it’s own company with a parent company. L&R cant pull the building down, Cineworld have a lease with 60 years left on it, that’s the landlords next opportunity to take the building back on the basis of a conversion.

Zappomatic on September 19, 2017 at 6:48 pm

Hadn’t noticed Empire Cinemas still have their head office listed as being Leicester Square. Wonder if it’s really just a front for a PO box? Otherwise it’s slightly embarrassing, a bit like still living with your ex after you’ve split up… Although, Empire’s structure looks like a rather questionable house of cards with each cinema registered as a separate company in Jersey. Company names take the form of (Location) Cinema 2 Ltd eg. Walthamstow Cinema 2 Ltd. Tax efficient, some might say.

Al Alvarez on September 18, 2017 at 10:24 pm

Cineworld Leicester Square appears to have dropped the Empire name altogether now. Shameful.

CF100 on August 31, 2017 at 3:59 pm

Cjbx11: According to Maeve Contractors, the conversion cost £5m. I saw £4.6m quoted elsewhere.

I’m not convinced by the conversion in terms of gaining the extra screen, but I do think that Empire 1 couldn’t meet today’s expectations—the stalls were too flatly raked, and the circle was too far from the screen—and the “slap echo” made dialogue unintelligible—especially since movie soundtracks, these days, are mixed for acoustically damped small to medium sized rooms.

Please don’t get me wrong, I loved Empire 1, but I can see that it wasn’t perfect.

Added to the above they obtained the IMAX brand on the facade and at present they have the only IMAX with Laser installation in London with the screen size to match. One only has to look at the BFI to see how popular full scale IMAX is.

Empire Cinemas' beneficial owner, Thomas Anderson, was reported to have had problems with debt structuring over in Ireland. Cineworld admit, in their annual report, to paying a very large premium (over their own fair market valuation) to acquire those key sites from Empire Cinemas.

Regarding standards of presentation, I cannot remember the lighting and tabs at my local Odeon, the main screen of which was still OK despite subdivision. But I can say that it wasn’t until the late 1990s that Dolby Digital was installed, and even then the sound was quite poor. JBL rear speakers were installed but who knows what was behind the screen.

I have been to multiplexes on multiple occasions (35mm) where there was a failure to switch lens for the main feature (until I left the auditorium to complain!) and even more times with otherwise sloppy projection such as an out-of-focus picture.

The local Cannons and Coronets, which may well have had tabs, were absolutely dire in all respects.

OTOH, I went to a new multiplex back then and there were no tabs; before the feature, a badly aligned slide projector was used to show still adverts for local businesses. This included the local kebab shop or similar. Absolutely terrible.

CF100 on August 31, 2017 at 11:51 am

Robert: Thanks for your fascinating recollections of how things were back in the day! By those standards, showmanship and presentation had already declined before I was born.

Empire 1 was my favourite cinema, too. But I always imagined that it couldn’t possibly remain in that form forever. :–(

CF100 on August 31, 2017 at 11:28 am

Lionel: Interesting that the GM said that to you back then.

In the 1990s, new build multiplex development in London had trailed behind the rest of the country. In parts of London, the only “local” option was a 1930s cinema which typically had become a run down Cannon or Coronet, probably with Altec speakers behind the screen, and, in the largest auditorium, a really bad Dolby Stereo installation, with the smaller auditoria still mono. The environment was very poor with awful subdivisions and lack of upkeep.

If you wanted to see a quality presentation with 5.1 digital audio and particularly in a THX certified screen then the West End was the only game in town.

I remember Empire 1 being very busy at peak times; I knew people at that time with no particular special interest in cinema who would visit the West End for some “blockbuster” movies.

By 2000 or so a number of new multiplexes had opened in London, so this situation had changed. The standard of presentation at these tended to be sub-par, but they were new, clean and had digital sound. More have opened today with further sites in the pipeline.

Around that time the Empire building (5-6 Leicester Sq.) was acquired by London & Regional Properties (from First Leisure, operators of the nightclub that was then below the main part of the cinema.) Currently, AFAIK the building is on a 25 year lease (ending 2030) to the company which owns the casino.

I had expected the building to be demolished by now, and I dare say without the successful casino, it would have been.

I don’t see small auditoria built in “spare” space as negative—do not visit them if you don’t like them? I have not been to the Odeon Mezzanine/Studios in a long time.

I share your concerns over the loss of West End cinema “culture.” Empire Cinemas, I think, very much ran it as the Empire Leicester Sq. and not another multiplex and we shall see if this is sustained under Cineworld.

One of the benefits of an IMAX installation is the quality control including continuous montoring by IMAX, and automatic daily recalibration of picture/sound. Auditoria used for premieres should also benefit from more servicing of projection/sound than the average cinema.

All IMAX screenings are introduced by a member of staff; the Empire IMAX still has colour changing concealed lighting; no tabs but the screen is never simply left blank.

A new laser show would be a great addition. :–(

I sudder to think of watching an 8K screening whilst eating a plastic tasting steak from the awful tourist trap that is an Angus Steak House!

Thankfully, this is not the direction that cinemas are going in, however. Operators are spending a lot of money refurbishing or on new sites with nice foyer areas and “premium large format” screens featuring Dolby Atmos, sometimes laser projection, and more spacious seating. Also, the average new IMAX screen—and they are increasing in number—may be disappointing for someone familar with the “classic” ones, but IMAX Digital is a high quality system—vastly better than the days of the typical multiplex out-of-focus 35mm presentation with medicore audio!

These developments are covered in the “Next Gen Multiplex” feature in the June 2017 issue of Cinema Technology Magazine.

I agree with your comments on the current medicore output of Hollywood. The picture quality, sound and special effects in some of today’s releases is incredible—but the incomprehensible plot and threadbare storytelling makes watching “blockbuster” or “tentpole” films with wall to wall action like going to a theme park. I like theme parks, actually, but it’s not how movies ought to be.

P.S. For me Leicester Square is a nice place to be on a sunny afternoon if it’s not too busy.

Lionel on August 31, 2017 at 2:18 am

@Cjbx11 There are several aspects to the problem.

When I spoke to the Empire’s general manager in 1993 (UCI back then), he told me that somebody would have to take the decision one day, surely before the year 2000, to split it in two. Well, it took 15 years more to happen, but it happened.

The nineties is when things started to function stupidly in a suicidal way for theatres. The Warner went from 5 screens to 8, the Odeon Leicester Square had the 5-matchbox (it’s not even shoebox) Mezzanine added, Marble Arch was split in 5, and now the Empire itself ended up with more small auditoria. And all theatres are more or less showing the same films. And that’s because of distributors policy : flood every street corner with the same films, so that the customer doesn’t have to walk very long from their tube station to see the film.

And what films! Hollywood crap is getting crappier, as marketing aims exclusively for investment security, so all studios eventually come up with the same films, same structure, same plot baseline and characters display. You now have the feeling to see the same film over and over, and big action/crime/sci-fi movies are not even as half-exciting and original as they were still in the eighties and mid-nineties. Go figure why attendances are dropping everywhere.

I loved to go to West End theatres when I was a kid and student (let’s say from 1980 on to the mid-nineties) but that’s over now. I’m not Brit, I’m a Belgian who enjoy coming to London almost every year since childhood (because my parents had English friends here). Now, I tend to avoid the overcrowded Leicester Square like the plague and films displayed on the big theatre fronts leave me indifferent at such an extent that I wouldn’t even pay a ticket there just to enjoy the big old-style theatre. If I lived in London, I’d probably stick to the Curzon circuit to see the films I like, except perhaps for a Star Wars or a James Bond episode which I still love to see on the big screen.

Add to this, video-on-demand, Netflix, web piracy and distributors policy. In USA major theatre circuits, distributors eat 100% of film revenues during the first two weeks. Theatres would go bankrupt if they didn’t sell popcorn and soft drinks. In 1993, profits from concession stands accounted for 17% of the Empire’s revenues. Distributors are now fighting theatre chains to release films through the Internet the same day they’re released in theatres. How can a theatre be profitable?

There is a solution. In a big city like London, have one theatre like the former single-screen Empire or the former single-screen Odeon Marble Arch. Give it something special : showmanship starting with how the auditorium looks like (lights, style and colors instead of black walls/ceiling/floor/seats giving the impression of watching a film in a mortuary, curtains, who said laser show?), 70mm or 4K, all for the exclusive engagement of a good quality film. With projectionists knowing how to properly adjust picture scaling, screen masking and sound volume. But this will never happen, because it’s against the distributors business model and it requires what theatre circuits no longer have : a culture of West End theatres, which is how Leicester Square cinemas were still run until twenty years ago. Now they are run like suburban shopping malls.

This is how I see the future of cinemas : theatres as we know them will all close. Burger King, Pizza Hut and Angus Steak House will install a screen hanging from the ceiling. Of course, projectors will be 8K and there will be a powerful subwoofer under each table. So powerfool that clients will go vomit their dinner in the new laser-aligned toilets.