Update — last trip before the cinema reopens to the public:
I spoke to someone with GF Holding (main contractor) outside the cinema:
Believe it or not, both screenings on the 20th were cancelled because the licensing person from Westminster was ill! They will be back tomorrow but Odeon didn’t want to run the risk of it not being signed off (though no problems are anticipated.)
The auditorium is ready and, IIRC, was scheduled tonight for a “friends and family” preview screening.
They are working to a very tight schedule — “trust us it will be ready” for Mary Poppins on the 21st.
Work is sequenced from top down and then out the front; asked if the ground floor foyer flooring was even finished, they said that it was currently being polished, and the pavement just outside the LSQ entrance will be reinstated tomorrow.
They will be returning in January to finish up—MDF doors will be replaced with metal doors, bar surfaces added, etc.
Is it going to be “fantastic.”
Visible externally from Leicester Square:
Hoarding almost entirely removed.
Dolby Cinema sign now installed behind right side of glass box. Appears to be smaller than the one shown in the renderings.
Centre and right large format LED display module screens operating—Mary Poppins advertised on the centre screen — “DISCOVER IT IN DOLBY CINEMA.”
Foyers seem to be progressing well, albeit hard to compare to the previous visit as a much better view in is now possible. “POPCORN” sign, overhead concession screens and 2xCoca-Cola Freestyle machines could be seen in the ground level foyer. However, it looks far from complete, with wires still hanging from the ceiling!
Service yard view from Charing Cross Road:
No particular changes from previous visit, still being used for waste disposal. Discarded packaging for a 75" Samsung TV could be seen.
Innumerable workers could be seen both from Leicester Square and Charing Cross Road.
Farrat: Farrat Isolevel Tweet. This includes two photos, taken during an inspection, which show the steel frame for the IMAX auditorium’s stadia and the isolation pads used to decouple it from the concrete slab below.
Being an IMAX auditorium with a single IMAX with Laser projector, the new scaled down “Commerical Laser” version, the screen is actually 1.9:1, as is desirable for that format.
Kers: Me too. :–( If you haven’t done so, you might like to check the prices for different dates/times—if you are able to be flexible, you won’t have to pay £40 for the “best” seats in the house. I certainly don’t want to spend that much to see a film, free gift card or not!
Kers: Bad news I’m afraid—I received the following E-mail an hour ago:
“Hello,
“I’m sorry to bring you some disappointing news – our exclusive ‘dress rehearsal’ screening of The Favourite on Thursday 20 December at ODEON Luxe Leicester Square has been cancelled. […]
“We need to take a bit of extra time to complete the final works, so we have decided to cancel our preview screenings scheduled for this Thursday. […]
“We will of course refund you in full for your tickets, and will also be sending you a £25 ODEON gift card to enjoy at our new cinema, by way of apology. […]
“We’re excited to confirm that ODEON Luxe Leicester Square will be open on Friday for Mary Poppins Returns, and we hope to see you there soon.”
As the first installation of IMAX’s scaled-down “commerical” single-projector IMAX with Laser system in the UK, and one for which its planning application suggested would include a screen of “giant” proportions, I had been eager to see what could be achieved today in a “multiplex,” and decided to visit this new-build cinema on opening day, attending the first public screening programmed just after 10am.
The movie I saw was “Aquaman,” the plot of which, for me, went in one ear and out the other; however, it deserves credit for the very ambitious scale, in terms of number of locations, CGI, etc., and a high proportion of the film was “full height” (i.e. 1.9:1)—plenty of excellent source material to show off the new projection system. It was all consistently graded and grain-free.
(Incidentally, 92 minutes of the “full height” scenes are, according to the “Technical Specifications” page on IMDb, 1.43:1 at IMAX 70mm and IMAX with Laser GT venues—which—once again!—means there are no suitable venues in the UK for a full height IMAX with Laser presentation. IMDb lists only digital filming was used—Arri Alexa cameras—and so it would seem that 1.43:1 is—unexpectedly?—not yet obsolete.)
The cinema is accessed from the first floor of the extension to intu Watford; briefly, the new mall, despite having a large main atrium with curved glazed roof, is actually not fully “enclosed;” there are gaps around the roof edges, and no entrance doors—thus, no HVAC system, and, suffering from something of a “wind tunnel,” perhaps even colder and less comfortable than the surrounding streets.
The cinema’s main entrance is at first floor level, with a narrow “shop front” only; getting to main foyer/cinema level (“second floor” per the plans) is via two escalators. (A lift has also been installed.)
(I may have missed an additional foyer area just past the entrance, at first floor level, as shown on the plans; or possibly, it is not yet open? In any case, a Starbucks is included within the cinema, and I certainly don’t recall seeing one.)
The main foyer area has a full height window overlooking the new mall atrium—which makes it feel spacious, but perhaps is sub-optimal as a transition into the darker “other world” of the auditoria.
It is decorated per Cineworld’s current house style, with blue LED strips attached to column edges (though extrusions and diffusers appear to have been used, individual LEDs could very clearly be seen, rather than a smooth “linear” source), and the usual attractive black sparkle tiles, with some red tiles.
A large LED module display is angled down over the concessions counter, and another smaller vertically-oriented LED module display is situated to the left of the entrance to the corridor leading to the auditoria.
Attention to detail was lacking in some aspects of the fit-out, in particular, the grey painted surfaces are less than smooth in places, the tiled floor was slightly undulating, and compared to the “bling” levels of some other recent Cineworld foyers, it seemed like costs had been cut in this area.
The main foyer is underneath the booth and stadia of the IMAX auditorium, with this being quite obvious to anyone observant enough, and all services are left exposed, albeit painted black.
Toilets off the main foyer were nothing special, albeit as with other new Cineworlds, they feature Mitsubishi’s “Jet Towel” dryers—Made in Japan!—which as I have noted on CT before, are in my view vastly preferable to the equivilant Dyson “Airblade” product, as my hands fit in them without it being very difficult to touch the dryer’s surfaces!
Auditoria 7-9 are accessed one level up from 1-6; the plans show a “bar” feature; I cannot confirm this as I did not visit that part of the cinema.
Owing to a signal failure, one of the trains I took to get to Watford had been delayed, and I arrived at the cinema just in time for the performance—only to be told by a member of staff that the electronic ticketing machines were not working. I thus had to queue up at the concessions counter, with several people ahead in the queue, which proceeded slowly as the new staff were still being trained.
On approaching “ticket tear,” I was informed that there were “teething problems” with the IMAX system and to wait in the foyer; that they were “on the phone” to IMAX. Patrons were simply left standing in the main foyer, with no seating available. It was later announced that several technicians were busy trying to get the system working.
Intermittent rumbling sounds could be heard in the main foyer, which, as mentioned, is under the stadia of the IMAX.
About 35 minutes after the scheduled programme time, it was announced that the auditorium was ready; on entering the auditorium, the main feature had already started. A couple of minutes later, the screening came to an abrupt halt with house lights raised and sidewall lights turned on, and the manager came in to tell patrons that “we are restarting the film… Canada had started the film without realising that there was a queue of people waiting…”—suggesting that the fault was rectified remotely by IMAX’s Network Operations Centre in Mississauga? I also can’t help but wonder if the daily auto-recalibration hadn’t been performed in time.
All adverts and trailers were skipped, and the presentation started with the IMAX “countdown” trailer, straight into the main feature.
Lest this come across as being critical of an extremely shambolic operation, two ticket vouchers (seemingly unrestricted as to Cineworld location or format) were handed to each patron in the IMAX auditorium, and the staff were very helpful and polite. As you’d expect from a newly opened cinema, it was also spotlessly clean throughout—but I should add that the main foyer floors were being mopped whilst I waited for the IMAX to be ready.
Onto the IMAX auditorium. A member of staff informed me that the screen is 22m (~72ft.) wide (incidentally, also, that all auditoria are equipped with laser light source projection—and it is not the first UK Cineworld location where this is the case.) The screen height as drawn on the relevant cross sectional plan (see above link) is ~11.6m, as expected for a 1.9:1 ratio screen of 22m width.
Based on the above, the screen is ~22mx11.6m (~72ft.x38ft.) The screen is not quite wall-to-wall.
The auditorium depth is approximately within the classic IMAX screen width to last row requirements of no more than 1x screen width, and, the 22m size firmly meets that aspect of the Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) requirements for “giant screens.”
The auditorium still smelt “new,” and the black leather Lino Sonego seating, with red headrests, was comfortable, and legroom was very good. The rectangular sidewall features, lit with red concealed lighting, are unimaginative, and the current quasi-random layout IMO displeasing, but at least restrained compared to the sidewalls being adorned with the Cineworld “star” logo.
HVAC appeared to be inaudible, and certainly was not heard during the feature; nor was any leakage audible from other auditoria. A consistent comfortable temperature was maintained throughout the performance.
Overall, it felt “premium” quality.
At each side of the vomitorium corridor, guideway strips were lit throughout the performance, presumably using fibre optic lighting; they were not visible from my seating position. The ceiling downlights were well dimmed although they could be slightly distracting; all light fades were smooth.
The projection system: As mentioned, this is the first installation of the new “scaled-down” commerical IMAX with Laser single projector system; this supports 1.9:1 only, c.f. the existing dual-projection “GT” system intended for the largest venues, as a possible replacement for the 15/70 projectors, which supports 1.43:1 also.
3D glasses were marked with “IMAX with Laser;” unlike those that I have used over at Leicester Square, there is no reference to Dolby patents being licensed. (The glasses are returned at the end of the performance, being that the lenses for “wavelength multiplexed” 3D systems, notching out the unwanted wavelengths for each eye, are more expensive than types for polarised systems, e.g. Real-D.)
Obviously, no moveable masking is installed; although the black levels were slightly higher than expected, it was not overly missed for letterboxed “scope” scenes, with the 3D glasses cutting light levels down. The black sidewalls were also effective, being all but invisible with 3D glasses on; I am not keen on “rectangular” auditoria with sidewalls at right angles to the screen, preferring splayed walls—with a “wall-to-wall” screen, one becomes overly aware of the sidewalls and it feels “heemed in”—but it was acceptable in this case. However, reflection levels off the ceiling tiles were higher than is desirable.
There also seemed to be some slight clipping of near-black level detail, and with the 3D glasses on, the picture did not seem to be quite as bright as might be expected. Additionally, there was some odd motion “judder,” suggesting the possible use of a frame interpolation system that was not working quite correctly, and on one scene with a waterfall in the distance, there appeared to be odd blocking artifacts—puzzling, since presumably IMAX’s IDF “superset” of DCP format uses the same motion-JPEG2000 compression, and at the bit-rates used, I would expect it to be more or less lossless. Perhaps these issues might be fixed in a firmware/software update?
Otherwise, the picture was excellent, with full on “neon” luminous colours. It was perhaps not as “smooth” as the dual-projection system—albeit the benefits in that respect ought to occur with 2D content, where IMAX’s dual-projection system, at 4K, projects—essentially—a lower resolution image with one projector, and a higher resolution image with the other, to produce an improved “seamless” image; this method attempts to fill in the gaps between each DLP mirror.
There may have been some slight barrel distortion to the bottom edge of the screen, although I can’t be sure; the centre-to-edge brightness uniformity was good, but not perfect.
The mid-auditorium seat that I chose was a bit lower than I had expected, in relation to the screen, but the distance seemed “just right.”
With nit-picking out of the way, otherwise, the picture was excellent, with luminous “neon” colours achieved, and appeared to be in the same ballpark as the GT IMAX with Laser system at Leicester Square. The screen size is, of course, not as “massive” in scale but nevertheless full height scenes with strong motion definitely felt like IMAX, and some may even consider it to be more comfortable.
There really isn’t anything more to say—unless I enumerate all the things that it did right.
IMAX’s 12 channel system is of course used, albeit it seems unlikely that this installation supports the “Voice of God” upper centre channel.
The system appeared to be playing at “reference” level, with peak low frequency effects being full-on visceral—literally “seat-shaking” and “chest-pounding”—good or bad, depending on one’s point of view! Unfortunately, the bass did have a “one note” quality, and didn’t seem to be as smooth as that achieved at the Cineworld (Empire) Leicester Square IMAX—it seems plausible that this was due to the near-square shape of the auditorium, albeit its >20m width and depth are greater than the wavelength of sound at 20Hz.
Excellent surround imaging was achieved, and the system seemed to have been very well calibrated and EQ’d; e.g. it was never too bright or too dull. However, it did sound somewhat strained at peak levels, with a loss of clarity.
Compared to Leicester Square, the Watford IMAX does have the benefit that reverberation time is very much better controlled; no discrete reflections—reverb, slap echos, etc.—could be heard.
As a total package, then, this cinema is not quite right—albeit I may have missed the first floor level foyer, and upper level bar. However, excepting that I arrived just after opening on the first day that this location was open to the public, customer service was very good, with enthusiastic staff, and a big thumbs up for the goodwill gesture of supplying two free ticket vouchers. The IMAX is, outside of the best “GT” venues, first rate.
A few corrections to the Cinema Treasures description:
Watford is not strictly in Greater London (as in the “political” GLA area)—but Hertfordshire.
The cinema does not include a 4DX nor D-BOX-equipped auditorium.
Access to the cinema is from the first floor of the mall extension; however, the bulk of the scheme—i.e. main foyer and auditoria—is at “second floor” level.
Plans for the cinema are available on Watford Borough Council’s site within planning applications for the Charter Place redevelopment/intu Watford extension scheme—the most relevant one is perhaps the 2016 variation application.
The relevant documents to the cinema include:
APPROVED PROPOSED SECOND FLOOR/CINEMA LEVEL 1 PLAN
Remainder of the blue LED linear strips to façade now on, “halo” lighting to right Odeon sign also (above former “Studios” entrance.)
Gold coloured cladding fitted to canopy, numerous LED “pip” (?! — as the planning application refers to them?) installed to the soffit and working.
“Band” of LED display modules to canopy fascia installed and operating, very bright, the centre section currently permanently reads “ODEON LUXE LEICESTER SQUARE HOME OF PREMIERS.” The two setback sections to the left and right of this alternate between left reading “NOW OPEN” (sic) and something else (can’t remember,) and the right, “SCREENS 2-5” and something to do with Costa coffee. Looks very good, with a nice choice of typeface being used.
Site is buzzing away with activity, with central sections of the hoarding removed, workmen spilling out into the square for breaks and materials simply left in front. Numerous containers for a Flowcrete 2-part resin flooring system could be seen (presumably for back-of-house areas, e.g. the “food prep” area in the former rear stalls.)
Portakabin in front of former “Studios” entrance moved from first floor level, “door” opening in hoarding for access.
I overheard a worker saying that the seats weren’t in yet, albeit I am not sure if by this he meant the main auditorium or the former “Studios.”
Difficult to see inside; however, the ground floor foyer appears to be unfinished; wire bundles still hanging from the ceiling. The circle foyer appears now to have its ceiling in with general lighting working.
The service yard/access from Charing Cross Road was also active, the Portakabin and hoarding having been removed. At the time of my visit, at least 9 workers in or just outside the service yard, disposing of site waste, and a grinder (or similar?—sparks flying!) was being used in the yard. Visible through an open door at above ground level were yet more bundles of wires could be seen hanging from the ceiling.
Hopefully, I will be able to do add more report to CT just before opening day.
A further article on the refurbishment has been published on Pocket-lint; it appears that they had a tour of the site on the same day as other members of the press.
Key points:
Large amounts of asbestos were removed; “an architect hinted [that this] had delayed the project.”
Repeats the claim that 70 tonnes of steelwork has been added, stating that this was “to strengthen the buildings and ceilings”[?]—also to carry the load of the numerous speakers for Dolby Atmos.
The 10 miles of cabling noted in another article are here stated to be “super-thick speaker cable.”
“Full height” scaffolding in the auditorium had only been taken down the day before the author visited the site (3 weeks before opening.)
Oscar’s Bar floor raised [meaning parts of the circle foyer?] to accommodate a 6ft. high steel girder which blocked a new sloped ramp into the auditorium.
Dolby was involved with the project from the start, planning for the Atmos installation being particularly challenging due to the balcony and auditorium shape.
To isolate the auditorium acoustically from Alhambra House, which has been converted to a hotel, a “steel box was constructed behind the screen that’s a room within a room.” [?]
Dual modified Christie laser projectors, “completely bespoke.“[Whatever that means?]
Porthole glass “specific to Dolby Cinema.”
New food and beverage ordering via phone, “at-seat service” for some patrons. [Sigh!]
Work in December continues around the clock, with “200 workers on site.”
My first visit to OLS was during 1971 and air conditioning had already replaced the theatre’s incorporated plenum system (whose main intake/outtake grilles were behind the mountings for the golden ladies). I was a member of the audience then and sat towards the front of the stalls.
Just looking at the old “Wonders of the Super-Cinema” diagram—it makes reference to “washing and heating plant for air conditioning,” just under the front rows of the stalls. I’m assuming, then, that at the time of an opening an old “air washer” system was used for cooling (which, of course, doesn’t help with humidity!) rather than a “condensing” system.
The diagram also shows return ducts under the seating; at least at stalls level, I suspect that is no longer there or disused?
Any information that you have to offer on the changes made to the air conditioning over the years would be most appreciated.
The air con. has always seemed extremely “soft” and never struck me as intrusive even when the theatre has been dark during mornings.
My recollection is that the HVAC system/air conditioning noise wasn’t “intrusive,” but was audible as a slight “hiss”/“rumble.” I have visited auditoria in which the air conditioning seemed to be inaudible—at least going back to the original THX standard, it was part of the requirements for certification.
The rationale was to ensure that it didn’t “mask” low-level sounds in quiet scenes; alas, IME, this actually does not work with an audience; instead, in quiet scenes, every slight sound made by the audience can be heard, even someone many rows away taking a sip of a drink or adjusting body position in their seat!
Aside from this, I find a slight air conditioning sound quite relaxing, and so it doesn’t concern me. However, I suspect that, in keeping with the improved acoustic control and isolation that’s been added to the OLS, as a “flagship” Dolby Cinema site, HVAC background levels may be brought further down to “inaudible” levels. (I’m not sure what the requirements are for a “Dolby Cinema,” but certainly high standards were specified in older guidelines from Dolby as well as SMPTE recommendations.)
I remember seeing “Ryan’s Daughter” on the ELS’s vast 70mm screen and being taken aback by the “thumpity thump” coming up through the floor while Sarah Miles wandered over the breathtaking sands of the Dingle peninsular and the music on the soundtrack was relatively soft. I wondered at the time what David Lean might have thought!
One can only imagine that he would have been, at best, most unimpressed!
Improved sound insulation could well have been incorporated in the twinning of ELS’s 1962 auditorium as well as new floor surfaces and the casino below likely has background music and, usually, much chatter and general activity on its side. The odd distant explosions or roars of space craft are probably just taken to be part of the overall noise.
I don’t think any isolation was added to the concrete slab between the cinema and casino during the IMAX conversion, unless one counts the addition of the new stadium seating structure in the IMPACT/Superscreen. With the dividing wall between the two auditoria “floating” off the floor and supported by the roof girders, presumably all the screen frame supporting the front speakers behind is isolated from the floor, stopping direct mechanical transmission of vibrations.
The former rear stalls down to the screen were definitely screeded—presumably some minor relevelling occurred as, behind the floor “cove” (?), on the left/right side, down to the screen bottom, three shallow steps can be seen—photo.
Overlaying the licensing plans post-IMAX conversion with the previous licensing plans for Empire 1 suggests these three steps are in the exact same location as the fourth to second to last rows of the former stalls. (The screen centre being more than 8 rows back into the former stalls.)
A problem post-IMAX conversion has been that, as the screen speakers/subwoofers were moved closer to the stadia/former circle, every “explosion” could be heard in the foyer underneath, IIRC to the point of the structure shaking! I’m not sure if an attempt to tame this was made in Cineworld’s foyer refurbishment.
Trip to Leicester Square today—OLS refurbishment update—externally visible changes:
Replacement blue strip accent lighting added to façade tower—very bright and consistent linear look. Hard to believe LEDs are used—perhaps the best LED “imitation” of “neon” I’ve seen to date—and it looks far better than my recollection of the previous (even when it was fully intact and working.)
High level Odeon signage now lit.
2x lower level “large format” LED module displays reinstated.
“Glass box” now fully glazed, Odeon sign added.
View inside not possible due to glazing and temporary sheeting behind.
Photo uploaded.
Good to see the building almost “back on the road!”
However, high resolution images of the cinema under construction, as well as its frontage in 1975, and today as the “Athena,” are available on the “Story of Leicester” site.
During its construction, a sign read: “Odeon – A large modern super cinema is being erected on this site – Odeon theatres set the standard throughout the country for – artistic decoration – luxurious comfort – entertainment value.”
To show content supplied in DCP format, the projector must be “DCI compliant.” Almost all of these use DLP chips, which have 1000s of “micromirrors” on them that tilt in order to adjust the amount of light reflected back off them.
(Sony in particular use LCoS, a liquid crystal layer adjusts the light reflected off a reflective layer below.)
Prior to the introduction of so-called “laser” projectors, the light source that reflects off the DLP chips (one for each of red, green and blue colours) has largely been Xenon lamp(s).
There are now various DCI-compliant products offering laser light source projection, therefore some of them are lower-end and intended for use in large “PLF” auditoria, nor would two projectors be used in all cases.
Some people feel that film’s inherent colors
Improvements to colour gamut/contrast is an area that’s undergoing rapid development; particularly in the consumer space, with a mushrooming of “HDR” formats, and in the theatrical space IMAX have their proprietary laser projection system (IMAX with Laser), as do Dolby (Dolby Vision.) I’m not clear on what additional capabilities the source format for IMAX with Laser system uses (IMAX digital releases aren’t distributed in DCP format, they use IMAX Digital Format (IDF)—an “extended” version of DCP), but certainly IMAX say they separately colour grade (in the mastering of) content specifically for IMAX with Laser.
The original IMAX with Laser projection system was designed for full-sized “Grand Theatre” IMAX venues, being intended as a replacement for the 15/70 film projectors.
It is a dual-projection system. As aligning to 2x4K projectors to sub-pixel levels is, apparently, impossible, in 2D mode, crudely, one projector outputs a lower resolution image, the other fills in the details, forming an overall “smooth” image, avoiding the “pixel grid” effect caused by the gaps between each of the mirrors in a DLP chip.
The new generation “IMAX with Laser” projection system, now being rolled out to smaller venues, and, IIRC, not capable of 1.43:1 but 1.9:1 only, is a single projector system
In any case, provided the system is capable of getting the desired look on screen, then in colour grading it can be made to look any way desired creatively—oversaturated, tinted, etc.
But today’s few 70mm prints are generally made from digital intermediates
To add, inherently digital aspects in the “workflow” of creating any modern feature film include digital “matting”/compositing and CGI. One need only sit through the end credits to see how many people are involved!
Christopher Nolan claimed to have used an “optical finishing” process for, e.g. Dunkirk, but, I’m not clear on to what extent that means an uninterrupted “all optical” chain from the camera lens to print. (See above paragraph.)
Technically trying to compare film/digital projection is a minefield with so many variables, but I’ll say this: Neither is the perfect, “holy grail;” both have limitations and unwanted artifacts. In the case of laser light source projection, there is a “speckling” issue. Significant effort has been put into ameliorating it; IMAX bought thousands of Kodak’s patents in developing their “IMAX with Laser” projection system.
One known method that IMAX use to reduce “laser speckle” is to fit the screen with hundreds of small transducers, which slightly shake it.
IMO, digitally captured/generated material shown using the IMAX with Laser system (first generation—will be visiting a smaller cinema that’s just had the new system installer very soon) looks very good indeed.
15/70 projection I recall “back in the day,” at its best, as looking amazing—however, expectations change, and the last film I saw in 15/70 was “Interstellar,” and whilst I don’t think anyone would say it looked “bad,” film artifacts were very obvious—grainy, inconsistent colour.
Also, today’s few 70mm prints use DTS digital sound and while the specs are better than analog, I feel the old 6-track magnetic analog soundtracks when they were at their best, sounded far superior.
In a world where Atmos exists, both are throughly obsolete. Theatrical DTS uses apt-X lossy compression, which dates from the 1980s; it, therefore, is compromised over “lossless” digital audio delivery systems.
davidcoppock: The original interior had long been lost—the original ceiling did remain above the one “inserted” below in 1968, albeit by the time of closure, in something of a “crumbling” state, and punctured by services in numerous locations.
Whilst the exterior was not listed, it did have a measure of protection afforded by the Leicester Square Conservation Area designation.
Looking through the planning documents in a couple of applications relating to the redevelopment of the former OWE and adjoining properties, English Heritage (as it was then) did object to the entire block being demolished. The redevelopment project has gone through a few iterations over the years; a document with the description field “EH REBUTTAL 11.10.13 – APPENDIX” in application 13/07443/FULL, makes reference to a response by English Heritage in application 08/03016/FULL—alas, I can’t find this anywhere.
(N.B. The two above-linked planning applications relate to the first and second schemes, distinct in their differences—the second scheme is the one that is under construction, albeit with some alterations set out in later applications; of particular relevance here, the cinema layout was substantially altered.)
Nevertheless, the “EH REBUTTAL 11.10.13 – APPENDIX,” whether one cares to agree with the assertions therein, is a pretty good overview of the heritage “situation” as it was.
I think it is fair to say that, whatever the merits of the replacement “basement” cinemas, and it would surely be better if they were more ambitious in scope, externally the new building looks a great deal better than what was there before; above all, the view from Orange Street of the metal sheeting to the side of the former stage house. It is also a vast improvement over the original “amorphous blob” proposals shown in the 2008 application, with its form and “rhythm” better echoing the previous Leicester Square Theatre/OWE.
The Cineworld ads. do nothing to create either anticipation or sense of occasion – they are crass commercialism.
Couldn’t agree more! My apologies for suggesting that OLS might be lumbered with a similar “slide show”—with the OLS and OWE out of action, my visits to Odeons have been infrequent of late. However, as I mentioned previously, I did recently visit the “iSense” screen at Odeon Orpington, and was quite impressed—whilst it is a “black box” auditorium berefit of tabs, it does feature moveable masking on a “scope” screen, and the whole operation from start to finish felt like a “real cinema” with what appeared to be a thoughtful progression from a bright street level lobby, “open” with much glazing and height, up escalators to the main foyer, gradually getting darker and more intimate towards the auditoria.
As a sidenote, IMO Cineworld completely messed up the refurbishment of the Empire Leicester Square foyer/lobbies in this respect. (Notwithstanding the cack-handed “territorial marking,” stripping out—or at least not reinstating [e.g. the red flocked ceiling/domes] in some form—everything remaining from 1962 that made it unique.)
Odeon’s most recent on-screen content as one entered the auditorium prior to the programme starting was a huge capital ‘O’ in the 1998 style of ODEON characters. Behind the letter is a multi-coloured cloud […]
Now this I do remember—along with the rest of Odeon’s current on-screen branding, very good and perfect to set the “relax and escape to the cinema” mood.
I felt that Odeon’s idents in the period following the redesigned logo/“Fanatical About Film” rebrand were poor and wished for the 80s set to return, panning around a miniature in the style of a classic “streamline moderne” Odeon building. Obviously, they would now be quite dated—and, I guess, many would consider the accompanying “jingles” altogether too brash!
I suspect there’s about as much chance of the “digital” Safety Curtain being shown as the “OSCAR DEUTSCH ENTERTAINS OUR NATION” inverse backronym (?) being the permanent text on the front edge canopy LED display, as was shown in some renderings of the facade. More likely it’s there to fill “blank space” with heritage overtones, and perhaps the screen will be instead be filled with pre-show slide(s), being an opportunity to promote “Dolby Cinema,” “Limitless” cards, and so on.
Should an image of the safety curtain ever be projected onto the screen, then presumably it will be a “better version” than the photo used in the renderings!
All speculative, though, until the finished proscenium is revealed! There is the possibilty of tabs being installed but left open save for “special events” using the stage, or a slide show being projected with the tabs closed, etc… The renderings of the IMAX auditorium across the square, released just after the Empire 1 conversion works started, were a poor representation of the screen end, including simply having a “flat” rectangular image “pasted in,” rather than the curved screen that was installed.
N.B. Can’t remember what Odeons have on-screen before the feature, Cineworlds have a slide-show for branding and promotional purposes (Unlimited card, etc.):
Looking at a couple of performances of “Mary Poppins Returns” on the 3rd January 2019, the price of a recliner seat in the centre section of the “Royal Circle” is at 7:45pm is £30.75, and at 10am, £20.75.
Logging in to “My ODEON” account (free signup,) for the 10am performance, a “promo code” reduces the ticket price by £2, although there is an additional 75p/ticket online booking fee, so the effective price is £19.50.
For the 7.45pm performance, the effective price is £28.50.
Pricing, therefore, seems to vary from the reasonable (given the venue and location) to absurd! It should be remembered that these are for the best seats in the house—using the “My ODEON” discount, a mid-stalls recliner (10am 03/01/2018,) for instance, is effectively priced at £15.
With “sticker shock” out of the way, onwards to the opening day…
Not certain exactly of the proximity of Leicester Square underground station to the Odeon but I have often been in the front stalls/orchestra pit area when the cinema has been “dark”, devoid of members of the public and otherwise completely quiet […]
The Piccadilly Line, according to Google Maps, passes within ~130ft. (ground position, ignoring elevation) of the OLS' outside walls. Of course, the Westbound line would be nearest; given your account, whatever its exact position, it seems more than plausible that ground-borne vibrations could indeed be audible in the auditorium. Was the air conditioning in operation during these “dark” and empty times?
The entire base of the BFI IMAX building is supported by numerous columns which have springs mounted on top.
Clearly, the OLS' refurbishment could not have gone that far without rebuilding from the ground up (!); however, IME the air conditioning was on the noisy side, and bringing its level down—as has almost certainly be an objective of the refurbishment—might just make “leaked” background noise levels that much more obvious. As the stalls have been restepped for the recliner seating, this may have afforded the opportunity to “float” a supporting structure off the existing concrete base floor; for instance, using neoprene pads, as is common in new builds.
It might be wondered does wonder how the Empire Casino copes with potential leakage from upstairs—perhaps background levels in there are simply for anyone to notice the odd distant rumble?! Certainly, were the 1962 conversion undertaken today (if only!) the cinema and dance hall wouldn’t have been separated by “just” a thick concrete floor.
Update — last trip before the cinema reopens to the public:
I spoke to someone with GF Holding (main contractor) outside the cinema:
Believe it or not, both screenings on the 20th were cancelled because the licensing person from Westminster was ill! They will be back tomorrow but Odeon didn’t want to run the risk of it not being signed off (though no problems are anticipated.)
The auditorium is ready and, IIRC, was scheduled tonight for a “friends and family” preview screening.
They are working to a very tight schedule — “trust us it will be ready” for Mary Poppins on the 21st.
Work is sequenced from top down and then out the front; asked if the ground floor foyer flooring was even finished, they said that it was currently being polished, and the pavement just outside the LSQ entrance will be reinstated tomorrow.
They will be returning in January to finish up—MDF doors will be replaced with metal doors, bar surfaces added, etc.
Is it going to be “fantastic.”
Visible externally from Leicester Square:
Hoarding almost entirely removed.
Dolby Cinema sign now installed behind right side of glass box. Appears to be smaller than the one shown in the renderings.
Centre and right large format LED display module screens operating—Mary Poppins advertised on the centre screen — “DISCOVER IT IN DOLBY CINEMA.”
Foyers seem to be progressing well, albeit hard to compare to the previous visit as a much better view in is now possible. “POPCORN” sign, overhead concession screens and 2xCoca-Cola Freestyle machines could be seen in the ground level foyer. However, it looks far from complete, with wires still hanging from the ceiling!
Service yard view from Charing Cross Road:
No particular changes from previous visit, still being used for waste disposal. Discarded packaging for a 75" Samsung TV could be seen.
Innumerable workers could be seen both from Leicester Square and Charing Cross Road.
Photos—to follow.
LARGE_screen_format: You’re welcome. :–)
A few links:
Cineworld Blog Post: “Cineworld Watford is now open!”
Watford Observer, 1st December 2018: “Inside Watford intu centre’s new Cineworld IMAX cinema.” A gallery of photos taken as the fit-out was nearing completion is included.
Farrat: Farrat Isolevel Tweet. This includes two photos, taken during an inspection, which show the steel frame for the IMAX auditorium’s stadia and the isolation pads used to decouple it from the concrete slab below.
Swindon Interiors — Cineworld Watford. Announcement of fit-out contract award (photo on page NOT of Cineworld Watford.)
Gala opening video. Dreadful!
Being an IMAX auditorium with a single IMAX with Laser projector, the new scaled down “Commerical Laser” version, the screen is actually 1.9:1, as is desirable for that format.
Kers: Me too. :–( If you haven’t done so, you might like to check the prices for different dates/times—if you are able to be flexible, you won’t have to pay £40 for the “best” seats in the house. I certainly don’t want to spend that much to see a film, free gift card or not!
Kers: Bad news I’m afraid—I received the following E-mail an hour ago:
“Hello,
“I’m sorry to bring you some disappointing news – our exclusive ‘dress rehearsal’ screening of The Favourite on Thursday 20 December at ODEON Luxe Leicester Square has been cancelled. […]
“We need to take a bit of extra time to complete the final works, so we have decided to cancel our preview screenings scheduled for this Thursday. […]
“We will of course refund you in full for your tickets, and will also be sending you a £25 ODEON gift card to enjoy at our new cinema, by way of apology. […]
“We’re excited to confirm that ODEON Luxe Leicester Square will be open on Friday for Mary Poppins Returns, and we hope to see you there soon.”
Good news, and from my POV, unexpected, as I hadn’t been overly optimistic about the prospect of listed status being granted!
Historic England Listed Building Entry—extensive information.
ScreenX has been added to Cineworld Wandsworth, open as of the 14th December 2018.
As the first installation of IMAX’s scaled-down “commerical” single-projector IMAX with Laser system in the UK, and one for which its planning application suggested would include a screen of “giant” proportions, I had been eager to see what could be achieved today in a “multiplex,” and decided to visit this new-build cinema on opening day, attending the first public screening programmed just after 10am.
The movie I saw was “Aquaman,” the plot of which, for me, went in one ear and out the other; however, it deserves credit for the very ambitious scale, in terms of number of locations, CGI, etc., and a high proportion of the film was “full height” (i.e. 1.9:1)—plenty of excellent source material to show off the new projection system. It was all consistently graded and grain-free.
(Incidentally, 92 minutes of the “full height” scenes are, according to the “Technical Specifications” page on IMDb, 1.43:1 at IMAX 70mm and IMAX with Laser GT venues—which—once again!—means there are no suitable venues in the UK for a full height IMAX with Laser presentation. IMDb lists only digital filming was used—Arri Alexa cameras—and so it would seem that 1.43:1 is—unexpectedly?—not yet obsolete.)
The cinema is accessed from the first floor of the extension to intu Watford; briefly, the new mall, despite having a large main atrium with curved glazed roof, is actually not fully “enclosed;” there are gaps around the roof edges, and no entrance doors—thus, no HVAC system, and, suffering from something of a “wind tunnel,” perhaps even colder and less comfortable than the surrounding streets.
The cinema’s main entrance is at first floor level, with a narrow “shop front” only; getting to main foyer/cinema level (“second floor” per the plans) is via two escalators. (A lift has also been installed.)
(I may have missed an additional foyer area just past the entrance, at first floor level, as shown on the plans; or possibly, it is not yet open? In any case, a Starbucks is included within the cinema, and I certainly don’t recall seeing one.)
The main foyer area has a full height window overlooking the new mall atrium—which makes it feel spacious, but perhaps is sub-optimal as a transition into the darker “other world” of the auditoria.
It is decorated per Cineworld’s current house style, with blue LED strips attached to column edges (though extrusions and diffusers appear to have been used, individual LEDs could very clearly be seen, rather than a smooth “linear” source), and the usual attractive black sparkle tiles, with some red tiles.
A large LED module display is angled down over the concessions counter, and another smaller vertically-oriented LED module display is situated to the left of the entrance to the corridor leading to the auditoria.
Attention to detail was lacking in some aspects of the fit-out, in particular, the grey painted surfaces are less than smooth in places, the tiled floor was slightly undulating, and compared to the “bling” levels of some other recent Cineworld foyers, it seemed like costs had been cut in this area.
The main foyer is underneath the booth and stadia of the IMAX auditorium, with this being quite obvious to anyone observant enough, and all services are left exposed, albeit painted black.
Toilets off the main foyer were nothing special, albeit as with other new Cineworlds, they feature Mitsubishi’s “Jet Towel” dryers—Made in Japan!—which as I have noted on CT before, are in my view vastly preferable to the equivilant Dyson “Airblade” product, as my hands fit in them without it being very difficult to touch the dryer’s surfaces!
Auditoria 7-9 are accessed one level up from 1-6; the plans show a “bar” feature; I cannot confirm this as I did not visit that part of the cinema.
Owing to a signal failure, one of the trains I took to get to Watford had been delayed, and I arrived at the cinema just in time for the performance—only to be told by a member of staff that the electronic ticketing machines were not working. I thus had to queue up at the concessions counter, with several people ahead in the queue, which proceeded slowly as the new staff were still being trained.
On approaching “ticket tear,” I was informed that there were “teething problems” with the IMAX system and to wait in the foyer; that they were “on the phone” to IMAX. Patrons were simply left standing in the main foyer, with no seating available. It was later announced that several technicians were busy trying to get the system working.
Intermittent rumbling sounds could be heard in the main foyer, which, as mentioned, is under the stadia of the IMAX.
About 35 minutes after the scheduled programme time, it was announced that the auditorium was ready; on entering the auditorium, the main feature had already started. A couple of minutes later, the screening came to an abrupt halt with house lights raised and sidewall lights turned on, and the manager came in to tell patrons that “we are restarting the film… Canada had started the film without realising that there was a queue of people waiting…”—suggesting that the fault was rectified remotely by IMAX’s Network Operations Centre in Mississauga? I also can’t help but wonder if the daily auto-recalibration hadn’t been performed in time.
All adverts and trailers were skipped, and the presentation started with the IMAX “countdown” trailer, straight into the main feature.
Lest this come across as being critical of an extremely shambolic operation, two ticket vouchers (seemingly unrestricted as to Cineworld location or format) were handed to each patron in the IMAX auditorium, and the staff were very helpful and polite. As you’d expect from a newly opened cinema, it was also spotlessly clean throughout—but I should add that the main foyer floors were being mopped whilst I waited for the IMAX to be ready.
Onto the IMAX auditorium. A member of staff informed me that the screen is 22m (~72ft.) wide (incidentally, also, that all auditoria are equipped with laser light source projection—and it is not the first UK Cineworld location where this is the case.) The screen height as drawn on the relevant cross sectional plan (see above link) is ~11.6m, as expected for a 1.9:1 ratio screen of 22m width.
Based on the above, the screen is ~22mx11.6m (~72ft.x38ft.) The screen is not quite wall-to-wall.
The auditorium depth is approximately within the classic IMAX screen width to last row requirements of no more than 1x screen width, and, the 22m size firmly meets that aspect of the Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) requirements for “giant screens.”
The auditorium still smelt “new,” and the black leather Lino Sonego seating, with red headrests, was comfortable, and legroom was very good. The rectangular sidewall features, lit with red concealed lighting, are unimaginative, and the current quasi-random layout IMO displeasing, but at least restrained compared to the sidewalls being adorned with the Cineworld “star” logo.
HVAC appeared to be inaudible, and certainly was not heard during the feature; nor was any leakage audible from other auditoria. A consistent comfortable temperature was maintained throughout the performance.
Overall, it felt “premium” quality.
At each side of the vomitorium corridor, guideway strips were lit throughout the performance, presumably using fibre optic lighting; they were not visible from my seating position. The ceiling downlights were well dimmed although they could be slightly distracting; all light fades were smooth.
The projection system: As mentioned, this is the first installation of the new “scaled-down” commerical IMAX with Laser single projector system; this supports 1.9:1 only, c.f. the existing dual-projection “GT” system intended for the largest venues, as a possible replacement for the 15/70 projectors, which supports 1.43:1 also.
3D glasses were marked with “IMAX with Laser;” unlike those that I have used over at Leicester Square, there is no reference to Dolby patents being licensed. (The glasses are returned at the end of the performance, being that the lenses for “wavelength multiplexed” 3D systems, notching out the unwanted wavelengths for each eye, are more expensive than types for polarised systems, e.g. Real-D.)
Obviously, no moveable masking is installed; although the black levels were slightly higher than expected, it was not overly missed for letterboxed “scope” scenes, with the 3D glasses cutting light levels down. The black sidewalls were also effective, being all but invisible with 3D glasses on; I am not keen on “rectangular” auditoria with sidewalls at right angles to the screen, preferring splayed walls—with a “wall-to-wall” screen, one becomes overly aware of the sidewalls and it feels “heemed in”—but it was acceptable in this case. However, reflection levels off the ceiling tiles were higher than is desirable.
There also seemed to be some slight clipping of near-black level detail, and with the 3D glasses on, the picture did not seem to be quite as bright as might be expected. Additionally, there was some odd motion “judder,” suggesting the possible use of a frame interpolation system that was not working quite correctly, and on one scene with a waterfall in the distance, there appeared to be odd blocking artifacts—puzzling, since presumably IMAX’s IDF “superset” of DCP format uses the same motion-JPEG2000 compression, and at the bit-rates used, I would expect it to be more or less lossless. Perhaps these issues might be fixed in a firmware/software update?
Otherwise, the picture was excellent, with full on “neon” luminous colours. It was perhaps not as “smooth” as the dual-projection system—albeit the benefits in that respect ought to occur with 2D content, where IMAX’s dual-projection system, at 4K, projects—essentially—a lower resolution image with one projector, and a higher resolution image with the other, to produce an improved “seamless” image; this method attempts to fill in the gaps between each DLP mirror.
There may have been some slight barrel distortion to the bottom edge of the screen, although I can’t be sure; the centre-to-edge brightness uniformity was good, but not perfect.
The mid-auditorium seat that I chose was a bit lower than I had expected, in relation to the screen, but the distance seemed “just right.”
With nit-picking out of the way, otherwise, the picture was excellent, with luminous “neon” colours achieved, and appeared to be in the same ballpark as the GT IMAX with Laser system at Leicester Square. The screen size is, of course, not as “massive” in scale but nevertheless full height scenes with strong motion definitely felt like IMAX, and some may even consider it to be more comfortable.
There really isn’t anything more to say—unless I enumerate all the things that it did right.
IMAX’s 12 channel system is of course used, albeit it seems unlikely that this installation supports the “Voice of God” upper centre channel.
The system appeared to be playing at “reference” level, with peak low frequency effects being full-on visceral—literally “seat-shaking” and “chest-pounding”—good or bad, depending on one’s point of view! Unfortunately, the bass did have a “one note” quality, and didn’t seem to be as smooth as that achieved at the Cineworld (Empire) Leicester Square IMAX—it seems plausible that this was due to the near-square shape of the auditorium, albeit its >20m width and depth are greater than the wavelength of sound at 20Hz.
Excellent surround imaging was achieved, and the system seemed to have been very well calibrated and EQ’d; e.g. it was never too bright or too dull. However, it did sound somewhat strained at peak levels, with a loss of clarity.
Compared to Leicester Square, the Watford IMAX does have the benefit that reverberation time is very much better controlled; no discrete reflections—reverb, slap echos, etc.—could be heard.
As a total package, then, this cinema is not quite right—albeit I may have missed the first floor level foyer, and upper level bar. However, excepting that I arrived just after opening on the first day that this location was open to the public, customer service was very good, with enthusiastic staff, and a big thumbs up for the goodwill gesture of supplying two free ticket vouchers. The IMAX is, outside of the best “GT” venues, first rate.
A few photos to follow.
A few corrections to the Cinema Treasures description:
Watford is not strictly in Greater London (as in the “political” GLA area)—but Hertfordshire.
The cinema does not include a 4DX nor D-BOX-equipped auditorium.
Access to the cinema is from the first floor of the mall extension; however, the bulk of the scheme—i.e. main foyer and auditoria—is at “second floor” level.
Plans for the cinema are available on Watford Borough Council’s site within planning applications for the Charter Place redevelopment/intu Watford extension scheme—the most relevant one is perhaps the 2016 variation application.
The relevant documents to the cinema include:
Update from a trip to Leicester Square yesterday:
Remainder of the blue LED linear strips to façade now on, “halo” lighting to right Odeon sign also (above former “Studios” entrance.)
Gold coloured cladding fitted to canopy, numerous LED “pip” (?! — as the planning application refers to them?) installed to the soffit and working.
“Band” of LED display modules to canopy fascia installed and operating, very bright, the centre section currently permanently reads “ODEON LUXE LEICESTER SQUARE HOME OF PREMIERS.” The two setback sections to the left and right of this alternate between left reading “NOW OPEN” (sic) and something else (can’t remember,) and the right, “SCREENS 2-5” and something to do with Costa coffee. Looks very good, with a nice choice of typeface being used.
Site is buzzing away with activity, with central sections of the hoarding removed, workmen spilling out into the square for breaks and materials simply left in front. Numerous containers for a Flowcrete 2-part resin flooring system could be seen (presumably for back-of-house areas, e.g. the “food prep” area in the former rear stalls.)
Portakabin in front of former “Studios” entrance moved from first floor level, “door” opening in hoarding for access.
I overheard a worker saying that the seats weren’t in yet, albeit I am not sure if by this he meant the main auditorium or the former “Studios.”
Difficult to see inside; however, the ground floor foyer appears to be unfinished; wire bundles still hanging from the ceiling. The circle foyer appears now to have its ceiling in with general lighting working.
The service yard/access from Charing Cross Road was also active, the Portakabin and hoarding having been removed. At the time of my visit, at least 9 workers in or just outside the service yard, disposing of site waste, and a grinder (or similar?—sparks flying!) was being used in the yard. Visible through an open door at above ground level were yet more bundles of wires could be seen hanging from the ceiling.
Hopefully, I will be able to do add more report to CT just before opening day.
Photo uploaded.
A further article on the refurbishment has been published on Pocket-lint; it appears that they had a tour of the site on the same day as other members of the press.
Key points:
The article page includes a number of photos.
FanaticalAboutOdeon:
Just looking at the old “Wonders of the Super-Cinema” diagram—it makes reference to “washing and heating plant for air conditioning,” just under the front rows of the stalls. I’m assuming, then, that at the time of an opening an old “air washer” system was used for cooling (which, of course, doesn’t help with humidity!) rather than a “condensing” system.
The diagram also shows return ducts under the seating; at least at stalls level, I suspect that is no longer there or disused?
Any information that you have to offer on the changes made to the air conditioning over the years would be most appreciated.
My recollection is that the HVAC system/air conditioning noise wasn’t “intrusive,” but was audible as a slight “hiss”/“rumble.” I have visited auditoria in which the air conditioning seemed to be inaudible—at least going back to the original THX standard, it was part of the requirements for certification.
The rationale was to ensure that it didn’t “mask” low-level sounds in quiet scenes; alas, IME, this actually does not work with an audience; instead, in quiet scenes, every slight sound made by the audience can be heard, even someone many rows away taking a sip of a drink or adjusting body position in their seat!
Aside from this, I find a slight air conditioning sound quite relaxing, and so it doesn’t concern me. However, I suspect that, in keeping with the improved acoustic control and isolation that’s been added to the OLS, as a “flagship” Dolby Cinema site, HVAC background levels may be brought further down to “inaudible” levels. (I’m not sure what the requirements are for a “Dolby Cinema,” but certainly high standards were specified in older guidelines from Dolby as well as SMPTE recommendations.)
One can only imagine that he would have been, at best, most unimpressed!
I don’t think any isolation was added to the concrete slab between the cinema and casino during the IMAX conversion, unless one counts the addition of the new stadium seating structure in the IMPACT/Superscreen. With the dividing wall between the two auditoria “floating” off the floor and supported by the roof girders, presumably all the screen frame supporting the front speakers behind is isolated from the floor, stopping direct mechanical transmission of vibrations.
The former rear stalls down to the screen were definitely screeded—presumably some minor relevelling occurred as, behind the floor “cove” (?), on the left/right side, down to the screen bottom, three shallow steps can be seen—photo.
Overlaying the licensing plans post-IMAX conversion with the previous licensing plans for Empire 1 suggests these three steps are in the exact same location as the fourth to second to last rows of the former stalls. (The screen centre being more than 8 rows back into the former stalls.)
A problem post-IMAX conversion has been that, as the screen speakers/subwoofers were moved closer to the stadia/former circle, every “explosion” could be heard in the foyer underneath, IIRC to the point of the structure shaking! I’m not sure if an attempt to tame this was made in Cineworld’s foyer refurbishment.
“Before and after" conversion photo slideshow.
LARGE_screen_format: You’re welcome, glad you found it interesting.
Trip to Leicester Square today—OLS refurbishment update—externally visible changes:
Replacement blue strip accent lighting added to façade tower—very bright and consistent linear look. Hard to believe LEDs are used—perhaps the best LED “imitation” of “neon” I’ve seen to date—and it looks far better than my recollection of the previous (even when it was fully intact and working.)
High level Odeon signage now lit.
2x lower level “large format” LED module displays reinstated.
“Glass box” now fully glazed, Odeon sign added.
View inside not possible due to glazing and temporary sheeting behind.
Photo uploaded.
Good to see the building almost “back on the road!”
HowardBHaas: Thanks for the links.
Wider rendering of the 2008 proposed “amorphous blob.”
Update: Had a look around the outside of the building again today—nothing of note externally visible since my last update.
The above links no longer seem to work properly.
However, high resolution images of the cinema under construction, as well as its frontage in 1975, and today as the “Athena,” are available on the “Story of Leicester” site.
During its construction, a sign read: “Odeon – A large modern super cinema is being erected on this site – Odeon theatres set the standard throughout the country for – artistic decoration – luxurious comfort – entertainment value.”
To add to zoetmb’s response:
To show content supplied in DCP format, the projector must be “DCI compliant.” Almost all of these use DLP chips, which have 1000s of “micromirrors” on them that tilt in order to adjust the amount of light reflected back off them.
(Sony in particular use LCoS, a liquid crystal layer adjusts the light reflected off a reflective layer below.)
Prior to the introduction of so-called “laser” projectors, the light source that reflects off the DLP chips (one for each of red, green and blue colours) has largely been Xenon lamp(s).
There are now various DCI-compliant products offering laser light source projection, therefore some of them are lower-end and intended for use in large “PLF” auditoria, nor would two projectors be used in all cases.
Improvements to colour gamut/contrast is an area that’s undergoing rapid development; particularly in the consumer space, with a mushrooming of “HDR” formats, and in the theatrical space IMAX have their proprietary laser projection system (IMAX with Laser), as do Dolby (Dolby Vision.) I’m not clear on what additional capabilities the source format for IMAX with Laser system uses (IMAX digital releases aren’t distributed in DCP format, they use IMAX Digital Format (IDF)—an “extended” version of DCP), but certainly IMAX say they separately colour grade (in the mastering of) content specifically for IMAX with Laser.
The original IMAX with Laser projection system was designed for full-sized “Grand Theatre” IMAX venues, being intended as a replacement for the 15/70 film projectors.
It is a dual-projection system. As aligning to 2x4K projectors to sub-pixel levels is, apparently, impossible, in 2D mode, crudely, one projector outputs a lower resolution image, the other fills in the details, forming an overall “smooth” image, avoiding the “pixel grid” effect caused by the gaps between each of the mirrors in a DLP chip.
The new generation “IMAX with Laser” projection system, now being rolled out to smaller venues, and, IIRC, not capable of 1.43:1 but 1.9:1 only, is a single projector system
In any case, provided the system is capable of getting the desired look on screen, then in colour grading it can be made to look any way desired creatively—oversaturated, tinted, etc.
To add, inherently digital aspects in the “workflow” of creating any modern feature film include digital “matting”/compositing and CGI. One need only sit through the end credits to see how many people are involved!
Christopher Nolan claimed to have used an “optical finishing” process for, e.g. Dunkirk, but, I’m not clear on to what extent that means an uninterrupted “all optical” chain from the camera lens to print. (See above paragraph.)
Technically trying to compare film/digital projection is a minefield with so many variables, but I’ll say this: Neither is the perfect, “holy grail;” both have limitations and unwanted artifacts. In the case of laser light source projection, there is a “speckling” issue. Significant effort has been put into ameliorating it; IMAX bought thousands of Kodak’s patents in developing their “IMAX with Laser” projection system.
One known method that IMAX use to reduce “laser speckle” is to fit the screen with hundreds of small transducers, which slightly shake it.
IMO, digitally captured/generated material shown using the IMAX with Laser system (first generation—will be visiting a smaller cinema that’s just had the new system installer very soon) looks very good indeed.
15/70 projection I recall “back in the day,” at its best, as looking amazing—however, expectations change, and the last film I saw in 15/70 was “Interstellar,” and whilst I don’t think anyone would say it looked “bad,” film artifacts were very obvious—grainy, inconsistent colour.
In a world where Atmos exists, both are throughly obsolete. Theatrical DTS uses apt-X lossy compression, which dates from the 1980s; it, therefore, is compromised over “lossless” digital audio delivery systems.
davidcoppock: The original interior had long been lost—the original ceiling did remain above the one “inserted” below in 1968, albeit by the time of closure, in something of a “crumbling” state, and punctured by services in numerous locations.
Whilst the exterior was not listed, it did have a measure of protection afforded by the Leicester Square Conservation Area designation.
Looking through the planning documents in a couple of applications relating to the redevelopment of the former OWE and adjoining properties, English Heritage (as it was then) did object to the entire block being demolished. The redevelopment project has gone through a few iterations over the years; a document with the description field “EH REBUTTAL 11.10.13 – APPENDIX” in application 13/07443/FULL, makes reference to a response by English Heritage in application 08/03016/FULL—alas, I can’t find this anywhere.
(N.B. The two above-linked planning applications relate to the first and second schemes, distinct in their differences—the second scheme is the one that is under construction, albeit with some alterations set out in later applications; of particular relevance here, the cinema layout was substantially altered.)
Nevertheless, the “EH REBUTTAL 11.10.13 – APPENDIX,” whether one cares to agree with the assertions therein, is a pretty good overview of the heritage “situation” as it was.
I think it is fair to say that, whatever the merits of the replacement “basement” cinemas, and it would surely be better if they were more ambitious in scope, externally the new building looks a great deal better than what was there before; above all, the view from Orange Street of the metal sheeting to the side of the former stage house. It is also a vast improvement over the original “amorphous blob” proposals shown in the 2008 application, with its form and “rhythm” better echoing the previous Leicester Square Theatre/OWE.
FanaticalAboutOdeon:
Couldn’t agree more! My apologies for suggesting that OLS might be lumbered with a similar “slide show”—with the OLS and OWE out of action, my visits to Odeons have been infrequent of late. However, as I mentioned previously, I did recently visit the “iSense” screen at Odeon Orpington, and was quite impressed—whilst it is a “black box” auditorium berefit of tabs, it does feature moveable masking on a “scope” screen, and the whole operation from start to finish felt like a “real cinema” with what appeared to be a thoughtful progression from a bright street level lobby, “open” with much glazing and height, up escalators to the main foyer, gradually getting darker and more intimate towards the auditoria.
As a sidenote, IMO Cineworld completely messed up the refurbishment of the Empire Leicester Square foyer/lobbies in this respect. (Notwithstanding the cack-handed “territorial marking,” stripping out—or at least not reinstating [e.g. the red flocked ceiling/domes] in some form—everything remaining from 1962 that made it unique.)
Now this I do remember—along with the rest of Odeon’s current on-screen branding, very good and perfect to set the “relax and escape to the cinema” mood.
I felt that Odeon’s idents in the period following the redesigned logo/“Fanatical About Film” rebrand were poor and wished for the 80s set to return, panning around a miniature in the style of a classic “streamline moderne” Odeon building. Obviously, they would now be quite dated—and, I guess, many would consider the accompanying “jingles” altogether too brash!
I suspect there’s about as much chance of the “digital” Safety Curtain being shown as the “OSCAR DEUTSCH ENTERTAINS OUR NATION” inverse backronym (?) being the permanent text on the front edge canopy LED display, as was shown in some renderings of the facade. More likely it’s there to fill “blank space” with heritage overtones, and perhaps the screen will be instead be filled with pre-show slide(s), being an opportunity to promote “Dolby Cinema,” “Limitless” cards, and so on.
Should an image of the safety curtain ever be projected onto the screen, then presumably it will be a “better version” than the photo used in the renderings!
All speculative, though, until the finished proscenium is revealed! There is the possibilty of tabs being installed but left open save for “special events” using the stage, or a slide show being projected with the tabs closed, etc… The renderings of the IMAX auditorium across the square, released just after the Empire 1 conversion works started, were a poor representation of the screen end, including simply having a “flat” rectangular image “pasted in,” rather than the curved screen that was installed.
N.B. Can’t remember what Odeons have on-screen before the feature, Cineworlds have a slide-show for branding and promotional purposes (Unlimited card, etc.):
Example 1. Example 2.
PhilipWW: You assume correctly.
Looking at a couple of performances of “Mary Poppins Returns” on the 3rd January 2019, the price of a recliner seat in the centre section of the “Royal Circle” is at 7:45pm is £30.75, and at 10am, £20.75.
Logging in to “My ODEON” account (free signup,) for the 10am performance, a “promo code” reduces the ticket price by £2, although there is an additional 75p/ticket online booking fee, so the effective price is £19.50.
For the 7.45pm performance, the effective price is £28.50.
Pricing, therefore, seems to vary from the reasonable (given the venue and location) to absurd! It should be remembered that these are for the best seats in the house—using the “My ODEON” discount, a mid-stalls recliner (10am 03/01/2018,) for instance, is effectively priced at £15.
With “sticker shock” out of the way, onwards to the opening day…
FanaticalAboutOdeon:
The Piccadilly Line, according to Google Maps, passes within ~130ft. (ground position, ignoring elevation) of the OLS' outside walls. Of course, the Westbound line would be nearest; given your account, whatever its exact position, it seems more than plausible that ground-borne vibrations could indeed be audible in the auditorium. Was the air conditioning in operation during these “dark” and empty times?
The entire base of the BFI IMAX building is supported by numerous columns which have springs mounted on top.
Clearly, the OLS' refurbishment could not have gone that far without rebuilding from the ground up (!); however, IME the air conditioning was on the noisy side, and bringing its level down—as has almost certainly be an objective of the refurbishment—might just make “leaked” background noise levels that much more obvious. As the stalls have been restepped for the recliner seating, this may have afforded the opportunity to “float” a supporting structure off the existing concrete base floor; for instance, using neoprene pads, as is common in new builds.
It might be wondered does wonder how the Empire Casino copes with potential leakage from upstairs—perhaps background levels in there are simply for anyone to notice the odd distant rumble?! Certainly, were the 1962 conversion undertaken today (if only!) the cinema and dance hall wouldn’t have been separated by “just” a thick concrete floor.