“There is nothing that says cinema better than watching side masking move out to reveal a full 2.35:1 widescreen image.”>
I never got tired of watching the side masking open out to reveal a 2.35:1 scope screen at various venues including UCI Wycombe 6. Bigger is better! :o)
Visited this cinema a bunch of times around mid to late 90’s whilst under Virgin ownership. If I recall they offered a monthly pass for £20 which entitled you to unlimited movies. Don’t remember any other cinema chain offering anything similar around that time until many years later when Cineworld launched their Unlimited Card?
The final aspect in Dolby’s quest for the perfect projected image is the use of a constant height screen. That means the screen is the width of the auditorium and uses an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. When projecting films made in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio there is masking at the sides but when switching to a widescreen film the projector zooms, shifts and refocuses to the full width of the screen and the side masking moves out to reveal the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. There is nothing that says cinema better than watching side masking move out to reveal a full 2.35:1 widescreen image.
Watched a bunch of movies at this cinema during the early to mid 90’s. Think it was run by MGM in those days?
See that it has changed ownership a number of times since then but it is sad to read that there has been little to no investment over the past two decades.
When did Empire Cinemas take over? I notice they have converted one of the auditoriums (screen 4) to an IMPACT screen. The bookings page quotes 283 seats yet on the auditorium information page it states 354 which is a noticeable difference. Also screen, which the largest auditorium, quotes 435 seats on the bookings page but 467 on the auditorium information page.
Pricing seems good value, peak times £8.50 for adults or £8.75 for 2D IMPACT (£10.25 for 3D IMPACT). A mere 25p (£1.75 for 3D) uplift charge for IMPACT screenings is a no-brainer!
A couple of things I don’t like are unreserved seating for all performances and have the aisle running right through the centre of the auditorium. What is the point of booking in advance if you still have to arrive early in order to obtain a good seating position?
Screen 10 has all ‘premium’ seating which carries no additional charge. Not sure if these are the same so-called ‘premium’ seats as found at Empire, High Wycombe or not? But I found there to be nothing particularly premium about them. They are located in the back three rows only in screens 3 & 4 (the two identical largest auditoriums). No uplift charge for these seats but previously these could only be booked online and not in person at the cinema. Not sure if that is still the case or not? When I watched The Wolf of Wall Street I opted for premium seats to see what they were like and was disappointed. They didn’t seem any more premium than the standard seats. The leg room is poor if you are a tall person. Have not chosen those seats again since.
I felt the same when watching Ready Player One on an Xtreme screen at Vue, Westfield Shepherd’s Bush. A good portion of the height of the screen is lost to letterboxing when watching a movie filmed in scope and almost seems pointless paying the extra for Xtreme over a standard non-Xtreme screen that may have a scope screen and possibly wider image.
If D-Box just offered built-in shakers in comfy armchair style seats I’d probably check it out. Seen as it includes tilting seats as well then one may as well go all out and watch a movie in 4DX for a more immersive effect.
That’s bad news regarding an IMPACT auditorium being dropped, I’m sure Empire Cinemas will be disappointed at having to implement this change. Although most auditoria contain recliners and sofas, which reduce the seating capacities, the seat counts do still seem on the low side for a new multiplex. I guess nowadays having more auditoria and therefore a wider range of programming takes precedence over having fewer auditoria with larger screens and increased seating capacities?
My guess is they perhaps only sold these two particular sites (17-screen Basildon, Essex and 16-screen Bournemouth) due to being offered so much over the ‘market value’ that it would have been bonkers not to have taken the deal.
Clearly, they must have been busy sites for them to reinvest in new competing sites, this time in town centres? Hopefully, they will go all out and make these new cinemas something special in order to attract some of Cineworld’s client base from the existing sites?
Talking of D-Box, has anyone watched a movie in a D-Box screen? I’ve watched a few movies in 4DX but not D-Box and am considering trying it out at some point if its any good?
According to that 2016 Annual Report, at the end of 2016 Cineworld had 27 4DX screens, 33 IMAX screens and six of their own Superscreen formats across their whole group including RoI and Europe.
I’m surprised to learn that they only had six Superscreens.
Thanks for sharing those photos @Ian, the interior of the IMAX auditorium looks great.
Have you watched any movies in IMAX at this cinema, and if so, care to share your experience please? The screen size is slightly smaller than that at Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead where I watch most IMAX movies but then Odeon do have reclining seats which look comfy.
The rear IMAX speakers look the same as those found at Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead. Does anyone happen to know which model of speaker they are?
The Empire Cinemas logo embroidered into the headrests of the IMAX seats have now been changed to all black headrests. These are the same seats as the ones in the IMAX auditorium at Cineworld, LSQ.
The wall and ceiling signs for auditorium numbers, previously were pink as seen in the Overview photo at the top of this page whilst under Empire Cinemas ownership but have since obviously been changed to Red as per Cineworld’s interior colour scheme.
The ‘Upper Level’ to auditoria 7-9 is via two tiny steps (approx. 6 inches in total height). Which seems bizarre that everything couldn’t be kept all on one level. This would have meant the glass barrier wall would not have been necessary down one of the hallways.
If an admin could please update the seat count for IMAX please, its 275 for 2D and 210 for 3D presentations. Also, the reference to IMPACT Luxe could be removed as it never materialised in the end.
That’s some great info you have discovered there regarding the plans for a new Empire cinema in Basildon, I did wonder why they would sell off their second-flagship site but I guess they already had one eye on the future?
Whilst previously under Empire Cinemas ownership, screen 6 was an IMPACT auditorium but I notice on Cineworld’s website that this site is not listed as having a Superscreen. Seems a strange decision to convert it into one of their standard screens. Having just clicked through a number of their performances I found that Mama Mia 2 at 17:00 is being shown in screen 6. It has a relatively low row count (9) for what used to be an IMPACT screen and was classed as Empire Cinemas second flagship cinema.
Does anybody happen to know the dimensions of the screens in the IMAX auditorium plus screen 12 which has the largest seating capacity at this site?
Visited this cinema plus ABC (now Odeon), George Street many times whilst growing up. Haven’t been inside since the second screen was added but it’s good to see it still running all of these years later.
It has one of the highest seating single auditoria capacities, outside of the Capital, in the Country.
Ticket pricing, looking at Odeon’s website, is the most complicated I have seen anywhere! There are uplift charges for peak times, blockbuster movies, 3D movies and two different rates for upgraded seating. :/ Pricing is almost three times higher than at Vue, Oxford which whilst some distance from the city centre offers free parking!
All auditoria contain Premier seats situated in the middle of the auditorium.
Recall seeing a Superman triple-bill in the old, much larger, screen 3 many years ago. Back in the days when you queued around the block to purchase tickets from the box office on either side of the front foyer immediately prior to the performance you were attending. It had a relatively large curved screen plus curtain tabs. Screens 2 & 3 were very small and even as a child seemed not much bigger than a home projector screen!
According to the Odeon press release the IMAX auditoria has 184 seats whereas the overview of this cinema at the top of the page mentions 307 when the IMAX installation opened in 2011. Take it originally they were non-recliners which were replaced when this site was converted to an Odeon Luxe cinema?
@CF100 – There’s me thinking you were a night owl? :oP
Thanks for the replies regarding screen size and as always @CF100 for your drilling down into clunky council planning sites and providing interesting insights. ;o)
Are there any other IMAX auditoria in the UK with reclining seats? Not sure I would actually recline my seat watching a movie at the cinema but the comfort of a leather armchair style seat certainly would appeal to me.
When I first started looking into IMAX cinemas in the UK a few years ago and saw Odeon, Swiss Cottage had one, many of the comments about it being LieMax discouraged me from watching a movie there.
What is the size of the IMAX screen?
Anyone who has been to this IMAX auditoria, how does it compare to other IMAX cinemas in the UK? And would you recommend it?
Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead is the IMAX screen I watch the most movies at, followed by Cineworld, Enfield, BFI IMAX, Cineworld, LSQ. Odeon, Greenwich was the least impressive IMAX screen that I have visited thus far.
Found a couple of 35mm photos of this Pepsi IMAX theatre including one of the interior, sadly the quality is poor because it was quite dark inside. T-Rex Back-To-The-Cretaceous was showing at the time.
There was another interactive experience in The Trocadero, Licence To Thrill. It was James Bond themed.
WOW! The UK is yet to open its first Dolby Cinema and yet you guys get movie theaters with both IMAX and Dolby Cinema in the same multiplex! So lucky!
How big is the Loews theater compared to the IMAX screen?
Is one of the existing auditoriums being converted to Dolby Cinema or will this be an additional/new one?
CF100
I never got tired of watching the side masking open out to reveal a 2.35:1 scope screen at various venues including UCI Wycombe 6. Bigger is better! :o)
Visited this cinema a bunch of times around mid to late 90’s whilst under Virgin ownership. If I recall they offered a monthly pass for £20 which entitled you to unlimited movies. Don’t remember any other cinema chain offering anything similar around that time until many years later when Cineworld launched their Unlimited Card?
‘If’ it turns out to be a flagship Dolby Cinema…
The final aspect in Dolby’s quest for the perfect projected image is the use of a constant height screen. That means the screen is the width of the auditorium and uses an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. When projecting films made in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio there is masking at the sides but when switching to a widescreen film the projector zooms, shifts and refocuses to the full width of the screen and the side masking moves out to reveal the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. There is nothing that says cinema better than watching side masking move out to reveal a full 2.35:1 widescreen image.
Watched a bunch of movies at this cinema during the early to mid 90’s. Think it was run by MGM in those days?
See that it has changed ownership a number of times since then but it is sad to read that there has been little to no investment over the past two decades.
When did Empire Cinemas take over? I notice they have converted one of the auditoriums (screen 4) to an IMPACT screen. The bookings page quotes 283 seats yet on the auditorium information page it states 354 which is a noticeable difference. Also screen, which the largest auditorium, quotes 435 seats on the bookings page but 467 on the auditorium information page.
Pricing seems good value, peak times £8.50 for adults or £8.75 for 2D IMPACT (£10.25 for 3D IMPACT). A mere 25p (£1.75 for 3D) uplift charge for IMPACT screenings is a no-brainer!
A couple of things I don’t like are unreserved seating for all performances and have the aisle running right through the centre of the auditorium. What is the point of booking in advance if you still have to arrive early in order to obtain a good seating position?
Screen 10 has all ‘premium’ seating which carries no additional charge. Not sure if these are the same so-called ‘premium’ seats as found at Empire, High Wycombe or not? But I found there to be nothing particularly premium about them. They are located in the back three rows only in screens 3 & 4 (the two identical largest auditoriums). No uplift charge for these seats but previously these could only be booked online and not in person at the cinema. Not sure if that is still the case or not? When I watched The Wolf of Wall Street I opted for premium seats to see what they were like and was disappointed. They didn’t seem any more premium than the standard seats. The leg room is poor if you are a tall person. Have not chosen those seats again since.
I felt the same when watching Ready Player One on an Xtreme screen at Vue, Westfield Shepherd’s Bush. A good portion of the height of the screen is lost to letterboxing when watching a movie filmed in scope and almost seems pointless paying the extra for Xtreme over a standard non-Xtreme screen that may have a scope screen and possibly wider image.
Ticket pricing is good value at this cinema. Mon-Thurs £6.95 and Fri-Sun £7.95. IMPACT in a ‘superior standard’ seat is only £7.95 which is a bargain!
If D-Box just offered built-in shakers in comfy armchair style seats I’d probably check it out. Seen as it includes tilting seats as well then one may as well go all out and watch a movie in 4DX for a more immersive effect.
That’s bad news regarding an IMPACT auditorium being dropped, I’m sure Empire Cinemas will be disappointed at having to implement this change. Although most auditoria contain recliners and sofas, which reduce the seating capacities, the seat counts do still seem on the low side for a new multiplex. I guess nowadays having more auditoria and therefore a wider range of programming takes precedence over having fewer auditoria with larger screens and increased seating capacities?
My guess is they perhaps only sold these two particular sites (17-screen Basildon, Essex and 16-screen Bournemouth) due to being offered so much over the ‘market value’ that it would have been bonkers not to have taken the deal.
Clearly, they must have been busy sites for them to reinvest in new competing sites, this time in town centres? Hopefully, they will go all out and make these new cinemas something special in order to attract some of Cineworld’s client base from the existing sites?
Talking of D-Box, has anyone watched a movie in a D-Box screen? I’ve watched a few movies in 4DX but not D-Box and am considering trying it out at some point if its any good?
Has that IMAX Theatre Design article not been updated since 1983? Things have moved on since then!
According to that 2016 Annual Report, at the end of 2016 Cineworld had 27 4DX screens, 33 IMAX screens and six of their own Superscreen formats across their whole group including RoI and Europe.
I’m surprised to learn that they only had six Superscreens.
Thanks for sharing those photos @Ian, the interior of the IMAX auditorium looks great.
Have you watched any movies in IMAX at this cinema, and if so, care to share your experience please? The screen size is slightly smaller than that at Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead where I watch most IMAX movies but then Odeon do have reclining seats which look comfy.
The rear IMAX speakers look the same as those found at Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead. Does anyone happen to know which model of speaker they are?
Noticed a few changes whilst on a recent visit.
The Empire Cinemas logo embroidered into the headrests of the IMAX seats have now been changed to all black headrests. These are the same seats as the ones in the IMAX auditorium at Cineworld, LSQ.
The wall and ceiling signs for auditorium numbers, previously were pink as seen in the Overview photo at the top of this page whilst under Empire Cinemas ownership but have since obviously been changed to Red as per Cineworld’s interior colour scheme.
The ‘Upper Level’ to auditoria 7-9 is via two tiny steps (approx. 6 inches in total height). Which seems bizarre that everything couldn’t be kept all on one level. This would have meant the glass barrier wall would not have been necessary down one of the hallways.
If an admin could please update the seat count for IMAX please, its 275 for 2D and 210 for 3D presentations. Also, the reference to IMPACT Luxe could be removed as it never materialised in the end.
That’s some great info you have discovered there regarding the plans for a new Empire cinema in Basildon, I did wonder why they would sell off their second-flagship site but I guess they already had one eye on the future?
Whilst previously under Empire Cinemas ownership, screen 6 was an IMPACT auditorium but I notice on Cineworld’s website that this site is not listed as having a Superscreen. Seems a strange decision to convert it into one of their standard screens. Having just clicked through a number of their performances I found that Mama Mia 2 at 17:00 is being shown in screen 6. It has a relatively low row count (9) for what used to be an IMPACT screen and was classed as Empire Cinemas second flagship cinema.
Does anybody happen to know the dimensions of the screens in the IMAX auditorium plus screen 12 which has the largest seating capacity at this site?
Great to see this cinema still running after all of these years. Not the Moulin Rouge ( http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/41623 ) was not so lucky.
Watched The Good, the Bad and the Ugly here around 1980. Has the projection, sound system and seats been upgraded over the years?
Visited this cinema plus ABC (now Odeon), George Street many times whilst growing up. Haven’t been inside since the second screen was added but it’s good to see it still running all of these years later.
It has one of the highest seating single auditoria capacities, outside of the Capital, in the Country.
Ticket pricing, looking at Odeon’s website, is the most complicated I have seen anywhere! There are uplift charges for peak times, blockbuster movies, 3D movies and two different rates for upgraded seating. :/ Pricing is almost three times higher than at Vue, Oxford which whilst some distance from the city centre offers free parking!
The first movie that I saw at any cinema was Star Wars at New Theatre, Oxford. Been a movie fan ever since! :o)
The seating capacities in the overview at the top of this page need updating, the current numbers (directly taken from Odeon’s website) are:
Screen 1 – 187 seats
Screen 2 – 187 seats
Screen 3 – 84 seats
Screen 4 – 109 seats
Screen 5 – 187 seats
Screen 6 – 108 seats
All auditoria contain Premier seats situated in the middle of the auditorium.
Recall seeing a Superman triple-bill in the old, much larger, screen 3 many years ago. Back in the days when you queued around the block to purchase tickets from the box office on either side of the front foyer immediately prior to the performance you were attending. It had a relatively large curved screen plus curtain tabs. Screens 2 & 3 were very small and even as a child seemed not much bigger than a home projector screen!
Get well soon buddy, we have plenty to discuss…
According to the Odeon press release the IMAX auditoria has 184 seats whereas the overview of this cinema at the top of the page mentions 307 when the IMAX installation opened in 2011. Take it originally they were non-recliners which were replaced when this site was converted to an Odeon Luxe cinema?
@CF100 – There’s me thinking you were a night owl? :oP
Thanks for the replies regarding screen size and as always @CF100 for your drilling down into clunky council planning sites and providing interesting insights. ;o)
Are there any other IMAX auditoria in the UK with reclining seats? Not sure I would actually recline my seat watching a movie at the cinema but the comfort of a leather armchair style seat certainly would appeal to me.
When I first started looking into IMAX cinemas in the UK a few years ago and saw Odeon, Swiss Cottage had one, many of the comments about it being LieMax discouraged me from watching a movie there.
What is the size of the IMAX screen?
Anyone who has been to this IMAX auditoria, how does it compare to other IMAX cinemas in the UK? And would you recommend it?
Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead is the IMAX screen I watch the most movies at, followed by Cineworld, Enfield, BFI IMAX, Cineworld, LSQ. Odeon, Greenwich was the least impressive IMAX screen that I have visited thus far.
Found a couple of 35mm photos of this Pepsi IMAX theatre including one of the interior, sadly the quality is poor because it was quite dark inside. T-Rex Back-To-The-Cretaceous was showing at the time.
There was another interactive experience in The Trocadero, Licence To Thrill. It was James Bond themed.