Thanks for sharing those photos @Ian, the interior of the IMAX auditorium looks great.
Have you watched any movies in IMAX at this cinema, and if so, care to share your experience please? The screen size is slightly smaller than that at Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead where I watch most IMAX movies but then Odeon do have reclining seats which look comfy.
The rear IMAX speakers look the same as those found at Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead. Does anyone happen to know which model of speaker they are?
The Empire Cinemas logo embroidered into the headrests of the IMAX seats have now been changed to all black headrests. These are the same seats as the ones in the IMAX auditorium at Cineworld, LSQ.
The wall and ceiling signs for auditorium numbers, previously were pink as seen in the Overview photo at the top of this page whilst under Empire Cinemas ownership but have since obviously been changed to Red as per Cineworld’s interior colour scheme.
The ‘Upper Level’ to auditoria 7-9 is via two tiny steps (approx. 6 inches in total height). Which seems bizarre that everything couldn’t be kept all on one level. This would have meant the glass barrier wall would not have been necessary down one of the hallways.
If an admin could please update the seat count for IMAX please, its 275 for 2D and 210 for 3D presentations. Also, the reference to IMPACT Luxe could be removed as it never materialised in the end.
That’s some great info you have discovered there regarding the plans for a new Empire cinema in Basildon, I did wonder why they would sell off their second-flagship site but I guess they already had one eye on the future?
Whilst previously under Empire Cinemas ownership, screen 6 was an IMPACT auditorium but I notice on Cineworld’s website that this site is not listed as having a Superscreen. Seems a strange decision to convert it into one of their standard screens. Having just clicked through a number of their performances I found that Mama Mia 2 at 17:00 is being shown in screen 6. It has a relatively low row count (9) for what used to be an IMPACT screen and was classed as Empire Cinemas second flagship cinema.
Does anybody happen to know the dimensions of the screens in the IMAX auditorium plus screen 12 which has the largest seating capacity at this site?
Visited this cinema plus ABC (now Odeon), George Street many times whilst growing up. Haven’t been inside since the second screen was added but it’s good to see it still running all of these years later.
It has one of the highest seating single auditoria capacities, outside of the Capital, in the Country.
Ticket pricing, looking at Odeon’s website, is the most complicated I have seen anywhere! There are uplift charges for peak times, blockbuster movies, 3D movies and two different rates for upgraded seating. :/ Pricing is almost three times higher than at Vue, Oxford which whilst some distance from the city centre offers free parking!
All auditoria contain Premier seats situated in the middle of the auditorium.
Recall seeing a Superman triple-bill in the old, much larger, screen 3 many years ago. Back in the days when you queued around the block to purchase tickets from the box office on either side of the front foyer immediately prior to the performance you were attending. It had a relatively large curved screen plus curtain tabs. Screens 2 & 3 were very small and even as a child seemed not much bigger than a home projector screen!
According to the Odeon press release the IMAX auditoria has 184 seats whereas the overview of this cinema at the top of the page mentions 307 when the IMAX installation opened in 2011. Take it originally they were non-recliners which were replaced when this site was converted to an Odeon Luxe cinema?
@CF100 – There’s me thinking you were a night owl? :oP
Thanks for the replies regarding screen size and as always @CF100 for your drilling down into clunky council planning sites and providing interesting insights. ;o)
Are there any other IMAX auditoria in the UK with reclining seats? Not sure I would actually recline my seat watching a movie at the cinema but the comfort of a leather armchair style seat certainly would appeal to me.
When I first started looking into IMAX cinemas in the UK a few years ago and saw Odeon, Swiss Cottage had one, many of the comments about it being LieMax discouraged me from watching a movie there.
What is the size of the IMAX screen?
Anyone who has been to this IMAX auditoria, how does it compare to other IMAX cinemas in the UK? And would you recommend it?
Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead is the IMAX screen I watch the most movies at, followed by Cineworld, Enfield, BFI IMAX, Cineworld, LSQ. Odeon, Greenwich was the least impressive IMAX screen that I have visited thus far.
Found a couple of 35mm photos of this Pepsi IMAX theatre including one of the interior, sadly the quality is poor because it was quite dark inside. T-Rex Back-To-The-Cretaceous was showing at the time.
There was another interactive experience in The Trocadero, Licence To Thrill. It was James Bond themed.
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)?
Thanks for sharing those photos @Ian, the interior of the IMAX auditorium looks great.
Have you watched any movies in IMAX at this cinema, and if so, care to share your experience please? The screen size is slightly smaller than that at Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead where I watch most IMAX movies but then Odeon do have reclining seats which look comfy.
The rear IMAX speakers look the same as those found at Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead. Does anyone happen to know which model of speaker they are?
Noticed a few changes whilst on a recent visit.
The Empire Cinemas logo embroidered into the headrests of the IMAX seats have now been changed to all black headrests. These are the same seats as the ones in the IMAX auditorium at Cineworld, LSQ.
The wall and ceiling signs for auditorium numbers, previously were pink as seen in the Overview photo at the top of this page whilst under Empire Cinemas ownership but have since obviously been changed to Red as per Cineworld’s interior colour scheme.
The ‘Upper Level’ to auditoria 7-9 is via two tiny steps (approx. 6 inches in total height). Which seems bizarre that everything couldn’t be kept all on one level. This would have meant the glass barrier wall would not have been necessary down one of the hallways.
If an admin could please update the seat count for IMAX please, its 275 for 2D and 210 for 3D presentations. Also, the reference to IMPACT Luxe could be removed as it never materialised in the end.
That’s some great info you have discovered there regarding the plans for a new Empire cinema in Basildon, I did wonder why they would sell off their second-flagship site but I guess they already had one eye on the future?
Whilst previously under Empire Cinemas ownership, screen 6 was an IMPACT auditorium but I notice on Cineworld’s website that this site is not listed as having a Superscreen. Seems a strange decision to convert it into one of their standard screens. Having just clicked through a number of their performances I found that Mama Mia 2 at 17:00 is being shown in screen 6. It has a relatively low row count (9) for what used to be an IMPACT screen and was classed as Empire Cinemas second flagship cinema.
Does anybody happen to know the dimensions of the screens in the IMAX auditorium plus screen 12 which has the largest seating capacity at this site?
Great to see this cinema still running after all of these years. Not the Moulin Rouge ( http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/41623 ) was not so lucky.
Watched The Good, the Bad and the Ugly here around 1980. Has the projection, sound system and seats been upgraded over the years?
Visited this cinema plus ABC (now Odeon), George Street many times whilst growing up. Haven’t been inside since the second screen was added but it’s good to see it still running all of these years later.
It has one of the highest seating single auditoria capacities, outside of the Capital, in the Country.
Ticket pricing, looking at Odeon’s website, is the most complicated I have seen anywhere! There are uplift charges for peak times, blockbuster movies, 3D movies and two different rates for upgraded seating. :/ Pricing is almost three times higher than at Vue, Oxford which whilst some distance from the city centre offers free parking!
The first movie that I saw at any cinema was Star Wars at New Theatre, Oxford. Been a movie fan ever since! :o)
The seating capacities in the overview at the top of this page need updating, the current numbers (directly taken from Odeon’s website) are:
Screen 1 – 187 seats
Screen 2 – 187 seats
Screen 3 – 84 seats
Screen 4 – 109 seats
Screen 5 – 187 seats
Screen 6 – 108 seats
All auditoria contain Premier seats situated in the middle of the auditorium.
Recall seeing a Superman triple-bill in the old, much larger, screen 3 many years ago. Back in the days when you queued around the block to purchase tickets from the box office on either side of the front foyer immediately prior to the performance you were attending. It had a relatively large curved screen plus curtain tabs. Screens 2 & 3 were very small and even as a child seemed not much bigger than a home projector screen!
Get well soon buddy, we have plenty to discuss…
According to the Odeon press release the IMAX auditoria has 184 seats whereas the overview of this cinema at the top of the page mentions 307 when the IMAX installation opened in 2011. Take it originally they were non-recliners which were replaced when this site was converted to an Odeon Luxe cinema?
@CF100 – There’s me thinking you were a night owl? :oP
Thanks for the replies regarding screen size and as always @CF100 for your drilling down into clunky council planning sites and providing interesting insights. ;o)
Are there any other IMAX auditoria in the UK with reclining seats? Not sure I would actually recline my seat watching a movie at the cinema but the comfort of a leather armchair style seat certainly would appeal to me.
When I first started looking into IMAX cinemas in the UK a few years ago and saw Odeon, Swiss Cottage had one, many of the comments about it being LieMax discouraged me from watching a movie there.
What is the size of the IMAX screen?
Anyone who has been to this IMAX auditoria, how does it compare to other IMAX cinemas in the UK? And would you recommend it?
Cineworld, Hemel Hempstead is the IMAX screen I watch the most movies at, followed by Cineworld, Enfield, BFI IMAX, Cineworld, LSQ. Odeon, Greenwich was the least impressive IMAX screen that I have visited thus far.
Found a couple of 35mm photos of this Pepsi IMAX theatre including one of the interior, sadly the quality is poor because it was quite dark inside. T-Rex Back-To-The-Cretaceous was showing at the time.
There was another interactive experience in The Trocadero, Licence To Thrill. It was James Bond themed.
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)?