Cannon Birmingham
81-91 John Bright Street,
Birmingham,
B1 1BN
81-91 John Bright Street,
Birmingham,
B1 1BN
3 people
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The Cannon (ex Futurist) closed on Thursday September 5th 1991. The final films were Soapdish in Screen 1 and Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves in Screen 2.
1919 Grand opening ad
Futurist cinema opening 30 Jul 1919, Wed Birmingham Gazette (Birmingham, West Midlands, England) Newspapers.com
Between 1954 and 1958 the Futurist was the Birmingham outlet for 20th Century Fox CinemaScope films, following the bust up between Fox and Rank over the cost of ‘Scope installations and the extended run policy.
The Cinema was Bombed twice during WW2 .. The last one was a total wreck..
@KavanH. Maybe they should also lobby local councils to put the Odeon Queensway back in order as a rep cinema. That was another great place and one that could play 70mm when it could.
One other memory from the BTTF premiere was the DeLorean they purposefully parked in John Bright St.
The Futurist does conjure up many memories for me. I attended the 1985 premiere of BACK TO THE FUTURE, which had Rustie Lee as guest of honour. I rather foolishly thought we were going to only get the film, but instead we got the whole programme, including the Kate Bush video CLOUDBUSTING. Other memories are of seeing the STAR TREK 1,2,3 triple bill, in which the film burned during the opening Klingon Battle sequence, plus seeing the likes of BEVERLY HILLS COP, STAR TREK IV, CROCODILE DUNDEE 2, RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2, MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME, CITY HEAT. Other notable films to play here included a reissue of GONE WITH THE WIND with queues around the block, THE GETAWAY, HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY. I live and work in London now, but the memories still remain
It is long overdue that this superb cinema, is fully restored and put back into full working order.
With the full development of New Street Station, this would prove to be an incredible opportunity to put this cinema back into working order, so Birmingham has a premier cinema by New Street Station showing Main stream films, whilst it can be ideally complimented by the Electric Cinema specialising in Art House, specialist and main stream film releases.
Birmingham lacks a major cinema within the Soutside Quarter, this would prove and idea opportunity to provide a major cinema for visitors to the City, as London and other major cities have.
This would have an incredible impact on Birmingham’s cultural scene, and would be economically viable with the creation of the New John Lewis store, and the additional foot fall provided by the new Metro link.
This is a once in a lifetime to restore a cultural gem of Birmingham, and place a superb opportunity to act as a catalyst for regeneration in the area.
The prominence of apartment blocks (The Orion Building and other blocks), pubs and the Alexandra theatre, not to mention the Mailbox, prove a genuine ideal opportunity to restore this cinema, to contribute to the financial an cultural regeneration of the area.
To deny such an opportunity would be foolhardy and deeply wasteful.
A photograph of a ‘now showing at the Futurist Cinema Birmingham’ reel, from the collection of the Regal Cinema in Tenbury Wells:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/regaltenburyhlf/6984584885/
Have loaded a picture of better days….
How I hate the name… Cannon….
A photo taken in October 2009 here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedoor/4030861767/
An October 2005 photograph of the exterior of the former Futurist Cinema, now in use as a ‘Gentleman’s’ Club with lap-dancing as the entertainment:
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