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.
I’ve just uploaded to Flicker the pictures of the Empire I took in the early nineties (exterior, foyer, auditorium and projection booth). Check the albums here :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/153302575@N06/albums
They are not of good quality but for your convenience, they are downloadable, and copyrighted by me because done in the context of a professional work. So please use them only in private, do not modify or redistribute them. I already had to ask a lawyer once to tour all the sites/forums where they had been redistributed by the same person.
I’ve posted pictures of the cinema when it opened in the eighties (exterior, lobby and large auditorium). Credits to the Mesbur+Smith Architect office, who designed the original complex. Pictures are copyrighted Cineplex Corporation Corporation, photographer name unknown.
The link to the article quoted by CF100 “Four-in-one-cinema” doesn’t work anymore because it was modified. I found it with Google :
https://vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?title=243&article=d.243.39
Only went once to this cinema while on holiday in London in the eighties, to see “Throw momma from the train”. I found both the seat and screen to be small, and had to sit in the first few rows for a satisfactory “wide screen” illusion. I’m surprised to see it still stands today. I guess the program and refurbishment have been smartly thought out.
When it comes to THX, it should be noted that the largest auditorium was the first European cinema to be equipped with a THX sound system in 1986, using JBL amplifiers and speakers.
For Ben-Hur, The Versailles got equipped in 70mm with projectors leased from MGM. But the theater gave back the projectors after the long Ben-Hur run. It 1978 it played Battlestar Galactica in Sensurround.
To KenRoe:
Yes, this beautiful building was originally built as a cinema. In fact, the front of the Churchill is the side exit of the Forum (/theaters/28534/) and the Churchill cinema was built in the basement of the forum. When there is a rock concert at the Forum, you can sometimes hear the vibrations of the music during quiet moments of projection at the Churchill. A bit annoying, but it’s OK.
The Churchill is a delight for film fans for whom correct projection is a must. All screens have proper adjustable screen masking. The largest auditorium really has a very big screen (for the size of the auditorium) and projectors are equipped to show all ratios 1.37 / 1.66 / 1.85 / Scope. It also has Dolby Digital and DTS.
@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.
I’ve just uploaded to Flicker the pictures of the Empire I took in the early nineties (exterior, foyer, auditorium and projection booth). Check the albums here : https://www.flickr.com/photos/153302575@N06/albums
They are not of good quality but for your convenience, they are downloadable, and copyrighted by me because done in the context of a professional work. So please use them only in private, do not modify or redistribute them. I already had to ask a lawyer once to tour all the sites/forums where they had been redistributed by the same person.
I’ve posted pictures of the cinema when it opened in the eighties (exterior, lobby and large auditorium). Credits to the Mesbur+Smith Architect office, who designed the original complex. Pictures are copyrighted Cineplex Corporation Corporation, photographer name unknown.
Hello. I’m desperately looking for pictures showing the inside of these theatres. Does somebody have some? Thank you.
The link to the article quoted by CF100 “Four-in-one-cinema” doesn’t work anymore because it was modified. I found it with Google : https://vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?title=243&article=d.243.39
Only went once to this cinema while on holiday in London in the eighties, to see “Throw momma from the train”. I found both the seat and screen to be small, and had to sit in the first few rows for a satisfactory “wide screen” illusion. I’m surprised to see it still stands today. I guess the program and refurbishment have been smartly thought out.
When it comes to THX, it should be noted that the largest auditorium was the first European cinema to be equipped with a THX sound system in 1986, using JBL amplifiers and speakers.
For Ben-Hur, The Versailles got equipped in 70mm with projectors leased from MGM. But the theater gave back the projectors after the long Ben-Hur run. It 1978 it played Battlestar Galactica in Sensurround.
To KenRoe:
Yes, this beautiful building was originally built as a cinema. In fact, the front of the Churchill is the side exit of the Forum (/theaters/28534/) and the Churchill cinema was built in the basement of the forum. When there is a rock concert at the Forum, you can sometimes hear the vibrations of the music during quiet moments of projection at the Churchill. A bit annoying, but it’s OK.
The Churchill is a delight for film fans for whom correct projection is a must. All screens have proper adjustable screen masking. The largest auditorium really has a very big screen (for the size of the auditorium) and projectors are equipped to show all ratios 1.37 / 1.66 / 1.85 / Scope. It also has Dolby Digital and DTS.