Was looking through some old 35mm photos and stumbled across some exterior shots of Odeon, Leicester Square whilst Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was being shown during Summer 1999. Across the front foyer glass doors, it stated “Europe’s Largest Cinema”. There was a huge photo of Darth Maul attached to the tower which was eye-catching.
Info that was posted online with regards to this renovation.
It is to remain a single auditorium, the owners AMC shall be spending £10-15M on renovating it with a giant screen (not IMAX but possibly Odeon’s propitiatory giant screen, iSense?), an improved sound system, reclining seats with extra legroom plus extra restrooms and maintaining it as Europe’s No. 1 venue.
That’s a huge outlay if the main changes are just seats and extra restrooms compared to what has gone on across the square at Cineworld, LSQ over the past five years.
I’m optimistic that there have to be more changes taking place considering the cost outlay plus the length of time this renovation is taking.
If it turns out not to be a Dolby Cinema then I really think it’s a huge opportunity missed, not only because of the cost of this refurbishment but also because this is a flagship and iconic cinema!
WOW! My asking about the screen size of Odeon, LSQ sure has opened a can of worms, lol! It is hard enough to find screen sizes quoted online let alone all of the various sizes when presenting different formats.
I forget which source I found the size of screen 1 at The Empire, LSQ but it probably was from the 1990’s? I don’t recall watching a movie there after the overhaul of 2006 which is a real shame after all of the glowing comments I have read about the updated THX sound system! Kill Bill vol. 1 may have been the last movie I watched in the old screen 1 before then watching a few movies in the IMAX and IMPACT auditoria in 2016.
Since the introduction of PLF including IMAX, we are slightly spoiled with regards to screen sizes in relation to seating capacities of auditoria compared to the three flagship West End cinemas (Odeon, Marble Arch – Odeon, LSQ & The Empire, LSQ) of yesteryear. But it is the main reason I like watching a movie at the cinema…for the LARGE screen experience. Often a high-end home cinema can outshine the majority of cinemas with regards to audio quality imo.
Had a look through all of the photos of this cinema for the first time this evening. Sure looks different now compared to some years ago.
Zappomatic – How do you manage to get interiors of auditoria so well and evenly lit using a smartphone? It’s always really dark when I go inside. Sometimes, if it’s the first performance of the day in the particular auditoria that I’m watching a movie in, they don’t even switch the ceiling lights on so you’re basically trying to find your seat in almost total darkness. This is where having a flashlight on ones smartphone comes in handy!
There’s now two reasons I’d like to visit Cineworld, O2. To check out the huge Superscreen and also ScreenX.
How is it that the Empire Cinemas chain are able to achieve a ‘Black Box’ effect with no ceiling lights remaining lit during a movie yet other cinema chains such as Cineworld and Vue ‘claim’ that ceiling lights must remain on (dimmed) during a movie for health and safety reasons. I’ve emailed both in the past to let them no that I found it very distracting having so many lights on and at some sites they certainly didn’t seem as dimmed as others. :/
If you search ‘ScreenX’ on YouTube there’s a bunch of short videos demoing the technology including this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG_1-A3PUtc
I guess this is one use where having splayed side walls is an advantage over the auditoria being rectangular shaped (side walls at 90 degrees to the screen)?
The seats look comfy. Guess we’ll find out more about the ScreenX experience after Zappomatic shares his thoughts after visiting this auditoria Tues/Wed…
“The O2 has been voted the number one global entertainment venue for the last 10 consecutive years and is visited by 9 million people annually. This number is expected to rise to over 13 million with the opening of the Designer Outlet Village and the Greenwich peninsula re-generation project.”
Have yet to visit this cinema but hope to check out the massive Superscreen (largest in the UK?) at some point. With such a high footfall it’s not surprising Cineworld are investing a further £35M and extending this cinema which once finished will make it the largest multiplex in London.
Has anyone visited the IMAX screen at this cinema? If so, thoughts? Auditoria looks pretty big (12 rows x 36 seats, back three rows are 40 seats wide).
B&B Theatres newly built flagship Liberty 12 in Liberty, MO, USA has the world’s largest ScreenX environment measuring more than four stories tall and seven stories wide with a seating capacity of 244.
The ScreenX is a cinematic platform using 10 projectors to display a movie on the walls in front and on the sides of the viewer, creating a 270-degree screen immersing the viewer in an expanse experience. About 40% of the movie utilises the three screen, most of it is displayed on the front wall in the traditional way.
Upcoming ScreenX releases include The Nun, Aquaman and Shazam!, with more to be announced this year. These join recent releases Black Panther, Rampage, plus Ant-Man and the Wasp. In 2017 three movies were released in ScreenX – Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
Not sure about this idea of having the picture extend at 90 degrees onto the two side walls? Surely a more immersive experience would be achieved by having a wider, possibly curved, floor to ceiling screen. Oh, wait…that sounds like IMAX, lol! :o)
Wonder if any existing 4DX auditoria get converted into ScreenX or whether they will all be new build or conversions of non-4DX screens only?
It would appear that Empire Cinemas like to round numbers up with regards to seating capacities that each auditoria contain. In some cases such as the IMAX screen by quite some margin (numbers quoted online were 278 or 281 when in fact it only has 210 + 1 Disabled seat!).
So I went through the laborious task of clicking through every performance of all movies being shown until I had seating layouts of all 17 screens and counted them manually.
These are the correct seating capacities per screen.
Just spotted a new format on the Cineworld website…ScreenX
https://www.cineworld.co.uk/screenx#/
ScreenX – Beyond the Frame:
ScreenX is the world’s first multi-projection immersive cinema auditorium which provides a 270-degree viewing experience. The technology goes beyond the frame of a traditional screen by expanding the film scenes onto the side walls.
ScreenX was developed in 2012 by the South Korean, CJ conglomerate, a leader in the Asian entertainment industry. This new cinematic experience is expanding rapidly across the world.
Oddly, no cinemas are listed as having this new format at present!
From my notes here’s just a handful of cinemas (there’s plenty more I’ve not listed) that have two or more identical auditoria.
Six different auditoria at Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead have the same number of seats as at least one or more other screens.
Cineworld, Enfield has four authoria (Screens 2,7, 9 & 12) that each have 13 rows x 26 seats.
Empire, High Wycombe has three screens that each have identical auditoria layouts plus the same number of seats. Screens 3 & 4 are the largest. Screens 2 & 4 are medium sized. Screens 1 & 6 are small sized. Screens 7 & 8 which were added many years after the original six were built are tiny with very few rows.
Cineworld, High Wycombe – screens 1 & 7 are identical in number of rows and seats followed by screens 3 & 6.
Cineworld, Sheffield – Screens 6 & 8 both have 18 rows x 33 seats.
It would seem not only did the idea to have two IMPACT auditoria whilst under Empire Cinemas ownership get dropped at some stage but also it would appear I was given misinformation by one of the manageress’ as she told me both auditoria would be identical and the second IMPACT would open approximately six months after the first one did. Looking at some of the other Empire Cinema sites that have two IMPACT auditoria, some of them have one IMPACT (sometimes referred to as IMPACT Blue) and one IMPACT Luxe which tends to be larger and have more seats.
So, it doesn’t surprise me that Screen 3 has significantly more seats than Screen 2. The screen size itself is not particularly large. Think I watched The Snowman in that screen October 2017? Also, there are no leather recliner seats at this cinema. Which, unless I am mistaken, is another attraction of IMPACT Luxe auditoria?
I had noted (although unsure from which source) Screen 3 as being 14 rows x 31 seats. Usually the only way to find out this information is to go online to the bookings page and work your way through all of the movies and all of the separate performances at which point you can find out which auditoria each one is being shown in plus you can count the number of rows and seats from the seating selection. Can’t imagine that got changed after this screen was opened to the public unless the seats got changed adding more legroom which would be the only explanation for a number of rows to be removed.
Total seats by my quick count is 2,173 (not 24,766 which obviously is a typo otherwise would surely make this the highest number of seats of any cinema multiplex in the world!)
As I said, Cineworld Hemel Hempstead is mostly on one level with the exception of a slightly raised area where you go up a handful of steps to three other screens. Or, at least that’s how I remembered seeing it when I was trying to find a restroom after watching a movie in one of the smaller auditoria a couple of years ago.
Will have a full walk around when I’m next there to refresh my memory.
If you take a look at the photo in the overview at the top of this page, although it’s not totally clear, Screen 7 on the right of the image is slightly raised and above the level of Screen 13 to the left of the image. The glass panelling is prevent customers from falling off the edge of this raised walkway.
Unless I’m mistaken IMPACT Luxe at Empire, Ipswich is the largest IMPACT screen within the Empire Cinemas chain at 19.5m x 8.2m (that’s even larger than the old screen 1 at Empire, LSQ which was 18.2m x 7.68m). This coupled with Barco laser projectors and Dolby Atmos sound puts in the flagship cinema category imo.
IMPACT Blue is quite a bit smaller at 12.4m x 6.7m
Was looking through some old 35mm photos and stumbled across some exterior shots of Odeon, Leicester Square whilst Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was being shown during Summer 1999. Across the front foyer glass doors, it stated “Europe’s Largest Cinema”. There was a huge photo of Darth Maul attached to the tower which was eye-catching.
Info that was posted online with regards to this renovation.
It is to remain a single auditorium, the owners AMC shall be spending £10-15M on renovating it with a giant screen (not IMAX but possibly Odeon’s propitiatory giant screen, iSense?), an improved sound system, reclining seats with extra legroom plus extra restrooms and maintaining it as Europe’s No. 1 venue.
That’s a huge outlay if the main changes are just seats and extra restrooms compared to what has gone on across the square at Cineworld, LSQ over the past five years.
I’m optimistic that there have to be more changes taking place considering the cost outlay plus the length of time this renovation is taking.
If it turns out not to be a Dolby Cinema then I really think it’s a huge opportunity missed, not only because of the cost of this refurbishment but also because this is a flagship and iconic cinema!
WOW! My asking about the screen size of Odeon, LSQ sure has opened a can of worms, lol! It is hard enough to find screen sizes quoted online let alone all of the various sizes when presenting different formats.
I forget which source I found the size of screen 1 at The Empire, LSQ but it probably was from the 1990’s? I don’t recall watching a movie there after the overhaul of 2006 which is a real shame after all of the glowing comments I have read about the updated THX sound system! Kill Bill vol. 1 may have been the last movie I watched in the old screen 1 before then watching a few movies in the IMAX and IMPACT auditoria in 2016.
Since the introduction of PLF including IMAX, we are slightly spoiled with regards to screen sizes in relation to seating capacities of auditoria compared to the three flagship West End cinemas (Odeon, Marble Arch – Odeon, LSQ & The Empire, LSQ) of yesteryear. But it is the main reason I like watching a movie at the cinema…for the LARGE screen experience. Often a high-end home cinema can outshine the majority of cinemas with regards to audio quality imo.
Does anyone happen to know the size of the screen at this cinema prior to its current refurbishment?
AFAIK, the UK’s largest cinema screens back in the early to mid 90’s were:
Odeon, Marble Arch – 23m x 9.1m
Odeon, LSQ – ?
The Empire, LSQ – 18.2m x 7.68m
A screen 20m wide doesn’t seem so big by today’s standards for an auditoria containing 2,500 seats. But then it was built all the way back in 2002.
According to the above Skyscape promotional video it was the UK’s largest cinema with 3,300 seats! :O
It was originally located outside of the Millenium Dome. Is that still the case or has it since been integrated/joined to the main Dome structure?
Had a look through all of the photos of this cinema for the first time this evening. Sure looks different now compared to some years ago.
Zappomatic – How do you manage to get interiors of auditoria so well and evenly lit using a smartphone? It’s always really dark when I go inside. Sometimes, if it’s the first performance of the day in the particular auditoria that I’m watching a movie in, they don’t even switch the ceiling lights on so you’re basically trying to find your seat in almost total darkness. This is where having a flashlight on ones smartphone comes in handy!
Yes, I believe it is. Is the new seat count 850 or 776?
Followed of course by Cineworld, Leicester Square which has 727 seats.
Thanks for the detailed feedback Zappomatic. ;o)
There’s now two reasons I’d like to visit Cineworld, O2. To check out the huge Superscreen and also ScreenX.
How is it that the Empire Cinemas chain are able to achieve a ‘Black Box’ effect with no ceiling lights remaining lit during a movie yet other cinema chains such as Cineworld and Vue ‘claim’ that ceiling lights must remain on (dimmed) during a movie for health and safety reasons. I’ve emailed both in the past to let them no that I found it very distracting having so many lights on and at some sites they certainly didn’t seem as dimmed as others. :/
A week or so ago there was not a single cinema listed as having ScreenX in the UK on the Cineworld website, now there are two. Things change quickly!
They seem to have made a mistake with their online ticket pricing for Students at Cineworld, Speke.
Regular price – £12.40 My Cineworld Plus price – £14.43
The annual £4.95 subscription fee is supposed to save you 10% on ticket prices NOT charge you more, lol!
If you search ‘ScreenX’ on YouTube there’s a bunch of short videos demoing the technology including this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG_1-A3PUtc
I guess this is one use where having splayed side walls is an advantage over the auditoria being rectangular shaped (side walls at 90 degrees to the screen)?
The seats look comfy. Guess we’ll find out more about the ScreenX experience after Zappomatic shares his thoughts after visiting this auditoria Tues/Wed…
“The O2 has been voted the number one global entertainment venue for the last 10 consecutive years and is visited by 9 million people annually. This number is expected to rise to over 13 million with the opening of the Designer Outlet Village and the Greenwich peninsula re-generation project.”
Have yet to visit this cinema but hope to check out the massive Superscreen (largest in the UK?) at some point. With such a high footfall it’s not surprising Cineworld are investing a further £35M and extending this cinema which once finished will make it the largest multiplex in London.
Has anyone visited the IMAX screen at this cinema? If so, thoughts? Auditoria looks pretty big (12 rows x 36 seats, back three rows are 40 seats wide).
Tonight’s performance of The Meg at 21:15 is also already heavily booked. Was this a regular (non-4DX) auditoria?
Can anyone confirm the seating capacity of screen 11, I have seen the following numbers quoted: 776, 785 and 850?
B&B Theatres newly built flagship Liberty 12 in Liberty, MO, USA has the world’s largest ScreenX environment measuring more than four stories tall and seven stories wide with a seating capacity of 244.
The ScreenX is a cinematic platform using 10 projectors to display a movie on the walls in front and on the sides of the viewer, creating a 270-degree screen immersing the viewer in an expanse experience. About 40% of the movie utilises the three screen, most of it is displayed on the front wall in the traditional way.
Upcoming ScreenX releases include The Nun, Aquaman and Shazam!, with more to be announced this year. These join recent releases Black Panther, Rampage, plus Ant-Man and the Wasp. In 2017 three movies were released in ScreenX – Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
Not sure about this idea of having the picture extend at 90 degrees onto the two side walls? Surely a more immersive experience would be achieved by having a wider, possibly curved, floor to ceiling screen. Oh, wait…that sounds like IMAX, lol! :o)
Wonder if any existing 4DX auditoria get converted into ScreenX or whether they will all be new build or conversions of non-4DX screens only?
It would appear that Empire Cinemas like to round numbers up with regards to seating capacities that each auditoria contain. In some cases such as the IMAX screen by quite some margin (numbers quoted online were 278 or 281 when in fact it only has 210 + 1 Disabled seat!).
So I went through the laborious task of clicking through every performance of all movies being shown until I had seating layouts of all 17 screens and counted them manually.
These are the correct seating capacities per screen.
Screen 1: IMAX – 210 seats + 1 Disabled Screen 2: Superscreen – 272 + 6 Disabled Screen 3 – 185 seats + 5 Disabled Screen 4 – 160 + 2 Disabled Screen 5 – 153 + 2 Disabled Screen 6 – 50 + 2 Disabled Screen 7 – 110 + 2 Disabled Screen 8 – 109 + 2 Disabled Screen 9 – 105 + 2 Disabled Screen 10 – 77 + 2 Disabled Screen 11 – 81 + 2 Disabled Screen 12 – 78 + 2 Disabled Screen 13 – 76 + 2 Disabled Screen 14 – 76 + 2 Disabled Screen 15 – 63 + 2 Disabled Screen 16 – 78 + 2 Disabled Screen 17 – 105 + 2 Disabled
Total: 1,988 + 40 Disabled
Perhaps an Admin could edit the Overview one last time with regards to seating capacities?
86 ScreenX screens in South Korea; 44 screens in China
They sure seem to embrace and rapidly rollout these new technologies such as 4DX and now ScreenX over there.
Just spotted a new format on the Cineworld website…ScreenX
https://www.cineworld.co.uk/screenx#/
ScreenX – Beyond the Frame:
ScreenX is the world’s first multi-projection immersive cinema auditorium which provides a 270-degree viewing experience. The technology goes beyond the frame of a traditional screen by expanding the film scenes onto the side walls.
ScreenX was developed in 2012 by the South Korean, CJ conglomerate, a leader in the Asian entertainment industry. This new cinematic experience is expanding rapidly across the world.
Oddly, no cinemas are listed as having this new format at present!
From my notes here’s just a handful of cinemas (there’s plenty more I’ve not listed) that have two or more identical auditoria.
Six different auditoria at Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead have the same number of seats as at least one or more other screens.
Cineworld, Enfield has four authoria (Screens 2,7, 9 & 12) that each have 13 rows x 26 seats.
Empire, High Wycombe has three screens that each have identical auditoria layouts plus the same number of seats. Screens 3 & 4 are the largest. Screens 2 & 4 are medium sized. Screens 1 & 6 are small sized. Screens 7 & 8 which were added many years after the original six were built are tiny with very few rows.
Cineworld, High Wycombe – screens 1 & 7 are identical in number of rows and seats followed by screens 3 & 6.
Cineworld, Sheffield – Screens 6 & 8 both have 18 rows x 33 seats.
It would seem not only did the idea to have two IMPACT auditoria whilst under Empire Cinemas ownership get dropped at some stage but also it would appear I was given misinformation by one of the manageress’ as she told me both auditoria would be identical and the second IMPACT would open approximately six months after the first one did. Looking at some of the other Empire Cinema sites that have two IMPACT auditoria, some of them have one IMPACT (sometimes referred to as IMPACT Blue) and one IMPACT Luxe which tends to be larger and have more seats.
So, it doesn’t surprise me that Screen 3 has significantly more seats than Screen 2. The screen size itself is not particularly large. Think I watched The Snowman in that screen October 2017? Also, there are no leather recliner seats at this cinema. Which, unless I am mistaken, is another attraction of IMPACT Luxe auditoria?
I had noted (although unsure from which source) Screen 3 as being 14 rows x 31 seats. Usually the only way to find out this information is to go online to the bookings page and work your way through all of the movies and all of the separate performances at which point you can find out which auditoria each one is being shown in plus you can count the number of rows and seats from the seating selection. Can’t imagine that got changed after this screen was opened to the public unless the seats got changed adding more legroom which would be the only explanation for a number of rows to be removed.
Total seats by my quick count is 2,173 (not 24,766 which obviously is a typo otherwise would surely make this the highest number of seats of any cinema multiplex in the world!)
Appreciate the detailed and helpful reply.
As I said, Cineworld Hemel Hempstead is mostly on one level with the exception of a slightly raised area where you go up a handful of steps to three other screens. Or, at least that’s how I remembered seeing it when I was trying to find a restroom after watching a movie in one of the smaller auditoria a couple of years ago.
Will have a full walk around when I’m next there to refresh my memory.
If you take a look at the photo in the overview at the top of this page, although it’s not totally clear, Screen 7 on the right of the image is slightly raised and above the level of Screen 13 to the left of the image. The glass panelling is prevent customers from falling off the edge of this raised walkway.
Unless I’m mistaken IMPACT Luxe at Empire, Ipswich is the largest IMPACT screen within the Empire Cinemas chain at 19.5m x 8.2m (that’s even larger than the old screen 1 at Empire, LSQ which was 18.2m x 7.68m). This coupled with Barco laser projectors and Dolby Atmos sound puts in the flagship cinema category imo.
IMPACT Blue is quite a bit smaller at 12.4m x 6.7m