West End cinema ticket prices are already too high, but I’ve often paid them to view films in the best available auditoria. £40+ for a cinema ticket, with no extras (food, beverages, etc.) packaged in, however, is nothing short of intolerable—and whilst Odeon say that the pricing will vary depending on product and demand, I’m inclined to say that they have already insulted their customers.
Indeed, Terry, by the time a non-advance long distance return rail fare is added in—and thank goodness I don’t have to suffer those prices to get to the West End—it makes for one absurdly expensive excursion.
I’m seeing £40.75 for the “Royal Circle” centre section. (“Mary Poppins Returns,” 21st December, 4:30pm.) Seats in the last two rows of the circle are £10.75! The cost of any suitable seat for this performance, in my view, is more than £30.
I wonder what the “uplift” charges are for “Limitless” card holders?
Fanatical About Odeon and I are probably dinosaurs when it comes to screen presentation and maintaining the belief that tabs are essential for this purpose.
The “general public” may not have any expectations regarding presentation—however, alas I’m in the same box of “dinosaur” as I remember all too well the high presentation standards achieved in the key West End flagships and being horrified to find multiplexes with bare screens and no moveable masking—and I certainly would expect tabs at the Odeon Leicester Square of all venues! I am willing to accept an absence of moveable masking if fully straight edges and good black levels in the disused areas can be achieved, albeit it would still be preferable.
Put another way, if it were up to me, ALL auditoria would have moveable masking and tabs, as well as seamless sequencing of lighting, non-sync music, and all the rest… I have been very critical on here of presentations that end with a “pop” and a flash on the screen, and non-sync music suddenly cutting in 30 seconds later—even if I’m the only one left in the auditorium by then!
FanaticalAboutOdeon: Thank you for your very interesting reply—that does explain why the “Home Cinema Choice” article says that Odeon still “owns” the safety curtain.
Tube lines aren’t shown directly under the cinema in Google Maps—is part of Leicester Square station under there? IIRC, the cinema used to get its water supply from the ground underneath?
I am, of course, in full agreement with yourself and Terry about curtains—would be a terrible shame and a puzzling omission.
However, it doesn’t look to me as though AMC are “imposing” a carbon copy of their North American operations on the UK & Ireland, with the Odeon brand being retained and nurtured.
joeswin: Thanks for the link to the Home Cinema Choice article.
Apparently, 70mm projection is being retained, and the flying ladies will be reinstated, the article saying they are being restored, one with a broken toe.
I’m slightly confused by the article’s statement that line arrays are “uncommon” in cinemas. Various companies market line array products for cinema applications, including Dolby SLS, as IIRC specified for this refurbishment.
If they are using line arrays to reinforce the screen speakers on a delay, then that would certainly be unusual.
Regarding the photos, multiple publications feature some of the same photos, of which several are also included in an official press release:
joeswin: Hadn’t even noticed that when booking, interesting pricing strategy.
This means that ticket prices in the main auditorium on opening day are, in some cases, significantly less than the former Studios/Mezzanine auditoria?
Since the opening day titles are standard DCPs rather than Dolby Cinema releases, perhaps the cost will be increased for those releases—presumably, also a surcharge for 3D?
For the “Luxe Recliner” option, the £10.75 seats are in the rear stalls to the sides—mostly under the balcony (last 3 rows.)
For the “Luxe Classic” option, £10.75 applies to ALL of the circle except for the front “Royal Circle” recliner rows.
However, there are three different “Luxe Classic” options/sections shown in the circle, all priced at £10.75, which points to pricing being increased for the better locations, at least.
With an evening adult non-2D “Luxe Classic” seat currently being £18.25 in the former “Studios” auditoria, I can’t see these prices being held down—but maybe Odeon’s thinking is that it’s the only way to fill all parts of the main auditorium?
terry: That’s what I referenced. Perhaps the the old safety curtain design being shown is aimed at presenting the retention of heritage aspects; as no pleating is shown in the render, it isn’t clear as you say whether it’s meant to be tabs or the screen itself.
I expect the old safety curtain was disposed of, as IIRC it contained asbestos (and should I remember incorrectly, it’s highly likely that it did.)
Terry—Yes, the tabs look to be the same as those from the 1992 rebuild; no idea if they’ve been replaced since then. Particularly 5/7 also have other “traditional” theatrical elements to their design, including splayed sidewalls and the “stepped” coving below and to the sides of their proscenia.
There appears to be relatively little latitude for radical changes to the Vue West End, with auditoria being surrounded by fire exits and services/plant rooms. My previous trawls through Westminster Council’s planning records revealed that Screens 8/9 were actually a “later” addition with a further planning application to the original, being essentially a roof extension—and it’s pretty clear from aerial images that the roof adjacent to auditorium 8, at the rear of the building, slopes down to avoid overshadowing the Church of Notre Dame—the circular building next door.
Screens 5/7 could perhaps have had new floating screens just ahead of their proscenia—albeit I’d estimate that would make them ~20% wider and a bit closer to the audience in exchange for losing the “unique” features that those screens have over typical multiplex auditoria.
I am aware, however, of no exceptions to the ‘no tabs’ policy by AMC, Odeon’s parent company. Should they happen to diversify from their stringently enforced doctrine at OLS, I shall be amazed – albeit most pleasantly……….
Tabs are shown in the publically released rendered views of the refurbished auditorium.
Addendum (again!): Perhaps I should have read the Engadget article before posting — some key features of the refurbishment noted:
“Essentially” two Atmos rigs to service both stalls and circle level, “Dolby added a series of line array speaker stacks in the ceiling. Only two of these are visible, however, with the rest hidden by a blue cloth.”
“The bas-relief figures of nymphs dancing toward the screen are being restored and will soon be reinstalled.”
“And, despite weighing around 55,000 lbs, the screen and [screen] speaker[s] can be retracted, turning the cinema into a theater.”
The article is littered with mistakes, but ho-hum.
The retractable screen speakers can be seen among the photos in Engadget, seemingly mounted at the end of trusses. Below the screen appears to a be new steel structure, perhaps to form an “extended” stage?
Many more photos over at Engadget — including of the proscenium end.
Another rendering of the proscenium shows a curtain with the old “safety curtain” design, as shown in another previously released rendering.
Additional renderings of the foyer areas.
Photos of the foyer areas—largely unfinished—installed escalator can be seen, as well as the formation of the new circular recessed ceiling elements.
Cut-outs for the sidewall speakers can be seen at circle level.
Wooden panelling referenced in previous post appears to be wood sheets to form walls rather than finished panelling.
Sidewalls stripped back to bare brickwork ahead of circle circle, existing finishes removed from front splay walls.
Ceiling from balcony to proscenium completely removed, not sure if what’s largely covering it over is a dust sheet? AFAIK fabric for stretched fabric systems is usually supplied in widths of a few metres maximum.
New wall within proscenium built, presumably using British Gypsum SoundBloc.
Ceiling below booth appears to be a perforated acoustic type.
The primary decorative finish is the coved plasterwork to the sidewalls/ceiling above the circle balcony, which appears to have been retained, albeit now near-black in colour. If I’m not mistaken, some of the new wooden panelling has been fitted to walls in the far left (or right, when looking at the photos) corner of the circle.
The new concealed lighting behind the coves seems to be operational; it’s not clear from the photos whether this will allow for changeable colours—it mostly looks very warm white, but there are some oddly cyan segments—albeit these might just be misregistrations in the shot.
It looks like the old front of the circle, with its “pageant” lightboxes, has been removed?
Sidewalls past the balcony to screen end have been stripped back to what appears to be brickwork, with new ducting attached. The construction of the new Royal Circle stadia and vomitory can be seen.
Additionally, two speaker arrays can be seen suspended from the ceiling.
I’m not quite sure what’s happening with the mess of portholes to the front of the booth?
Lionel: The photo uploaded by “Ally H.” to Yelp that you mention is of an auditorium over at the Vue West End, prior to its 2017 total refurbishment. The old grey pleated fabric (presumably Soundfold) sidewalls can be seen, as well as the amber “festoon” curtain above the screen.
thomastace: Going by the recent licensing plans (linked to in my previous posts here,) the old Mezzanine/Studios Screen 1 (approx. Ground Floor level) has been converted into 2 VR Rooms.
moviebuff82: I would imagine that it will drawn some of the innumerable overseas tourists wandering around the heart of London’s West End—but I can’t say I’ve noticed any during my trips in recent years to the OLS, as the auditorium wasn’t very well filled!
I’ve certainly noticed patrons from North America in the Cineworld (Empire) Leicester Square IMAX; presumably the sparkling refurbishment and Dolby Cinema signage will help “bring in the punters,” as we say.
I have taken a number of photos of the replacement building over the past few months and hopefully will get around to uploading them sooner rather than later!
Suffice to say for now, the building is externally taking form, with much glazing installed, and the metal framework for the corner “tower” below which will be the entrance to the replacement Odeon, being almost topped out.
terry: The Vue West End still has tabs and moveable masking, all operating on my last visit to Screen 5—and, these days, I don’t think any other Vue location includes tabs?
FanaticalAboutOdeon: Thank you for your detailed reply from the 24th, and also for the correction regarding the signage—apparently, I hadn’t been deceived by my “eyes” after all!
As you say, LED has largely displaced neon, which has been relegated to “specialist” applications.
The neon strips at the top of the Vue West End’s facade were reinstated in the 2017 refurbishment, being in a similarly poor state to the neon that was attached to the OLS' facade—alas, sections already look bent and presumably will come away sooner rather than later!
Alas, unlike neon tubes, LEDs are not an inherently smooth linear and omnidirectional light source; hopefully the OLS' new lighting will be suitably specified.
Regarding the Cineworld (Empire) IMAX auditorium lighting, IIRC, the sequencing is actually just red/green/blue, each held for about 30 seconds, with a 10 second fade—quite unimaginative as you say!
I imagine that the OLS will be following the Dolby Cinema “blue” lighting scheme rather than sequenced colour mixing?
(*i.e. the LEDs are measured and sorted into “bins” during manufacturing, ISTL claim to use the highest output—i.e. best—ones in the Prolix-series strips.)
Circle “pageant box” — I noticed from the renderings that this has been lost, which is unfortunate! The difficulty is that any cinema with a large balcony poses a challenge acoustically—one problem being reflections straight back to the screen off the balcony edge—so the option is, I imagine, between keeping the box, and sufficient acoustic treatment.
The licensing plans do show a “lighting bar” at ceiling level, although whether this will see any more use than the existing one that you mention is another matter!
Tantalisingly, the stage end is being kept under wraps! The oft changed curtains have always been part of the Odeon’s charm which the Company say they are keen to preserve and I can’t imagine why having at least one set/track would be a problem. There is sufficient wing space for centre-opening tabs to clear the arch completely and effectively disappear if a longer track were being used – thus no compromise on the widest image possible
That does at least sound promising from a feasibility standpoint!
For some years now, OLS has been the only Odeon to retain operative tabs – in all other Odeon to retain operative tabs – in all other Odeons tabs have either been removed, motors isolated or new builds not having tabs at all.
On visiting an iSense auditorium at the Odeon Orpington recently, it seemed to me that moveable masking was used. Do you know what Odeon’s current policy is regarding masking?
I gather there was some debate earlier in the year about whether much plainer/flatter splay walls would be more conducive to the sophisticated sound system achieving its optimum effect. The 1998 replica ladies were to a degree three dimensional. I don’t know what the outcome was.
Control of “lateral” reflections off sidewalls is imperative, in order to achieve a high standard of dialogue intelligibility and stereo imaging.
The “3D” flying ladies from the ‘98 refurbishment would tend to act in a more diffuse fashion than a flat wall, with more of the sound simply heading off to another wall (and, provided it’s treated, end up being absorbed there!) It seems to me, also, that they are would be too small in relative surface area to “cripple” system performance.
However, the whole front end of the auditorium needs to be controlled and I expect the ceilings/splay walls have been covered over with acoustic absorption hidden by stretched fabric, per today’s industry standard practice.
(Incidentally, have you any idea how much was removed in the strip-out? I’m assuming that all the plasterwork to the sidewalls/ceiling above the circle was kept?)
Given concerns about the acoustic effects of the flying ladies, and—whilst renderings are often very misleading—I have a suspicion that the reinstatement will be indeed be flatter and will be finished with (yet more!) stretched fabric.
So far so good—a wonderful “Christmas present,” I trust, awaits!
A planning application for “non-material amendments” to the original application is available to view, with the the following documents showing the cinema’s floor plan:
16/9/00013/MOD-PROP GROUND FLOOR PLAN
16/9/00013/MOD-PROP FIRST FLOOR PLAN
16/9/00013/MOD-PROP SECOND FLOOR PLAN
The largest auditorium shown is marked as “AUDITORIUM 11,” and measuring its size off these plans, its internal width is ~24m.
Auditorium depth between the demising wall behind the screen to the back wall is ~30m; if I’m not mistaken, the last row of seating is ~26m from the screen, and if so, the design esssentially confirms to the IMAX requirement of the last row not to be greater than the screen width away from the screen.
Behind this last row of seating is a “disabled viewing area.”
joeswin: I may well be mistaken and “over-excited” in stating that the Odeon signage is “new!”—d'oh!
I’m not sure it makes sense sequencing-wise, presumably the signage subcontractor will be on site later.
Light leakage from the “Christmas in Leicester Square” fair in Leicester Square Gardens may have been reflecting off the signs last night, making them look misleadingly bright and new.
Albeit, the relevant proposed signage elements don’t look particularly different in the planning application, and I notice from other photos taken during the works that those signs were not removed, so perhaps the existing is simply being kept?
cultman1: Appears to be on track with the glass box closing off access from the square and soon ready for the finishing (aka loosely “Cat B”) stage of the foyer fit-out. My guess is that the auditorium is further advanced not being open to the elements and the sequencing seems to be from the stage house/auditorium end out to the Leicester Square facade.
IOW, it might not look like it, but one might say that the project is actually pretty much done, it “just” needs “decorating.” The site should soon be buzzing away with the final race on for the stated opening! Exciting times… :–)
West End cinema ticket prices are already too high, but I’ve often paid them to view films in the best available auditoria. £40+ for a cinema ticket, with no extras (food, beverages, etc.) packaged in, however, is nothing short of intolerable—and whilst Odeon say that the pricing will vary depending on product and demand, I’m inclined to say that they have already insulted their customers.
Indeed, Terry, by the time a non-advance long distance return rail fare is added in—and thank goodness I don’t have to suffer those prices to get to the West End—it makes for one absurdly expensive excursion.
Any absence of tabs only adds salt to the wound.
joeswin: Many thanks for the links!
For the sake of prosterity, the first post to which you linked includes the following information:
It repeats the claim of “400 speakers” which without qualification is not helpful.
I’m seeing £40.75 for the “Royal Circle” centre section. (“Mary Poppins Returns,” 21st December, 4:30pm.) Seats in the last two rows of the circle are £10.75! The cost of any suitable seat for this performance, in my view, is more than £30.
I wonder what the “uplift” charges are for “Limitless” card holders?
Terry:
The “general public” may not have any expectations regarding presentation—however, alas I’m in the same box of “dinosaur” as I remember all too well the high presentation standards achieved in the key West End flagships and being horrified to find multiplexes with bare screens and no moveable masking—and I certainly would expect tabs at the Odeon Leicester Square of all venues! I am willing to accept an absence of moveable masking if fully straight edges and good black levels in the disused areas can be achieved, albeit it would still be preferable.
Put another way, if it were up to me, ALL auditoria would have moveable masking and tabs, as well as seamless sequencing of lighting, non-sync music, and all the rest… I have been very critical on here of presentations that end with a “pop” and a flash on the screen, and non-sync music suddenly cutting in 30 seconds later—even if I’m the only one left in the auditorium by then!
FanaticalAboutOdeon: Thank you for your very interesting reply—that does explain why the “Home Cinema Choice” article says that Odeon still “owns” the safety curtain.
Tube lines aren’t shown directly under the cinema in Google Maps—is part of Leicester Square station under there? IIRC, the cinema used to get its water supply from the ground underneath?
I am, of course, in full agreement with yourself and Terry about curtains—would be a terrible shame and a puzzling omission.
However, it doesn’t look to me as though AMC are “imposing” a carbon copy of their North American operations on the UK & Ireland, with the Odeon brand being retained and nurtured.
terry:
Quite, but would AMC really “veto” proposals for tabs coming over from their Odeon colleagues?
joeswin: Thanks for the link to the Home Cinema Choice article.
Apparently, 70mm projection is being retained, and the flying ladies will be reinstated, the article saying they are being restored, one with a broken toe.
I’m slightly confused by the article’s statement that line arrays are “uncommon” in cinemas. Various companies market line array products for cinema applications, including Dolby SLS, as IIRC specified for this refurbishment.
If they are using line arrays to reinforce the screen speakers on a delay, then that would certainly be unusual.
Regarding the photos, multiple publications feature some of the same photos, of which several are also included in an official press release:
Iconic ODEON Leicester Square Undergoes Significant Transformation to Become the UK’s First Dolby Cinema.
Do you have a link to the photos to which you refer on Twitter, please, as I can’t find them?!
joeswin: Hadn’t even noticed that when booking, interesting pricing strategy.
This means that ticket prices in the main auditorium on opening day are, in some cases, significantly less than the former Studios/Mezzanine auditoria?
Since the opening day titles are standard DCPs rather than Dolby Cinema releases, perhaps the cost will be increased for those releases—presumably, also a surcharge for 3D?
For the “Luxe Recliner” option, the £10.75 seats are in the rear stalls to the sides—mostly under the balcony (last 3 rows.)
For the “Luxe Classic” option, £10.75 applies to ALL of the circle except for the front “Royal Circle” recliner rows.
However, there are three different “Luxe Classic” options/sections shown in the circle, all priced at £10.75, which points to pricing being increased for the better locations, at least.
With an evening adult non-2D “Luxe Classic” seat currently being £18.25 in the former “Studios” auditoria, I can’t see these prices being held down—but maybe Odeon’s thinking is that it’s the only way to fill all parts of the main auditorium?
terry: That’s what I referenced. Perhaps the the old safety curtain design being shown is aimed at presenting the retention of heritage aspects; as no pleating is shown in the render, it isn’t clear as you say whether it’s meant to be tabs or the screen itself.
I expect the old safety curtain was disposed of, as IIRC it contained asbestos (and should I remember incorrectly, it’s highly likely that it did.)
Terry—Yes, the tabs look to be the same as those from the 1992 rebuild; no idea if they’ve been replaced since then. Particularly 5/7 also have other “traditional” theatrical elements to their design, including splayed sidewalls and the “stepped” coving below and to the sides of their proscenia.
There appears to be relatively little latitude for radical changes to the Vue West End, with auditoria being surrounded by fire exits and services/plant rooms. My previous trawls through Westminster Council’s planning records revealed that Screens 8/9 were actually a “later” addition with a further planning application to the original, being essentially a roof extension—and it’s pretty clear from aerial images that the roof adjacent to auditorium 8, at the rear of the building, slopes down to avoid overshadowing the Church of Notre Dame—the circular building next door.
Screens 5/7 could perhaps have had new floating screens just ahead of their proscenia—albeit I’d estimate that would make them ~20% wider and a bit closer to the audience in exchange for losing the “unique” features that those screens have over typical multiplex auditoria.
Tabs are shown in the publically released rendered views of the refurbished auditorium.
D'oh! Hadn’t noticed that antovolk had already posted a link to the Engadget article.
Addendum (again!): Perhaps I should have read the Engadget article before posting — some key features of the refurbishment noted:
“Essentially” two Atmos rigs to service both stalls and circle level, “Dolby added a series of line array speaker stacks in the ceiling. Only two of these are visible, however, with the rest hidden by a blue cloth.”
“The bas-relief figures of nymphs dancing toward the screen are being restored and will soon be reinstalled.”
“And, despite weighing around 55,000 lbs, the screen and [screen] speaker[s] can be retracted, turning the cinema into a theater.”
The article is littered with mistakes, but ho-hum.
The retractable screen speakers can be seen among the photos in Engadget, seemingly mounted at the end of trusses. Below the screen appears to a be new steel structure, perhaps to form an “extended” stage?
Addendum: Correction to above link: Inside the new look Odeon Leicester Square.
Many more photos over at Engadget — including of the proscenium end.
Another rendering of the proscenium shows a curtain with the old “safety curtain” design, as shown in another previously released rendering.
Additional renderings of the foyer areas.
Photos of the foyer areas—largely unfinished—installed escalator can be seen, as well as the formation of the new circular recessed ceiling elements.
Cut-outs for the sidewall speakers can be seen at circle level.
Wooden panelling referenced in previous post appears to be wood sheets to form walls rather than finished panelling.
Sidewalls stripped back to bare brickwork ahead of circle circle, existing finishes removed from front splay walls.
Ceiling from balcony to proscenium completely removed, not sure if what’s largely covering it over is a dust sheet? AFAIK fabric for stretched fabric systems is usually supplied in widths of a few metres maximum.
New wall within proscenium built, presumably using British Gypsum SoundBloc.
Ceiling below booth appears to be a perforated acoustic type.
At long last, some photos of the refurbished auditorium:
(Warning—it is not in a finished state, and the refurbishment is very extensive—the faint of heart may just want to turn away!)
Inside the new look Odeon Leicester Square
The primary decorative finish is the coved plasterwork to the sidewalls/ceiling above the circle balcony, which appears to have been retained, albeit now near-black in colour. If I’m not mistaken, some of the new wooden panelling has been fitted to walls in the far left (or right, when looking at the photos) corner of the circle.
The new concealed lighting behind the coves seems to be operational; it’s not clear from the photos whether this will allow for changeable colours—it mostly looks very warm white, but there are some oddly cyan segments—albeit these might just be misregistrations in the shot.
It looks like the old front of the circle, with its “pageant” lightboxes, has been removed?
Sidewalls past the balcony to screen end have been stripped back to what appears to be brickwork, with new ducting attached. The construction of the new Royal Circle stadia and vomitory can be seen.
Additionally, two speaker arrays can be seen suspended from the ceiling.
I’m not quite sure what’s happening with the mess of portholes to the front of the booth?
Alas, no shots of the proscenium end, I’m afraid.
Lionel: The photo uploaded by “Ally H.” to Yelp that you mention is of an auditorium over at the Vue West End, prior to its 2017 total refurbishment. The old grey pleated fabric (presumably Soundfold) sidewalls can be seen, as well as the amber “festoon” curtain above the screen.
Photo of former Odeon Studios Leicester Square auditorium.
(At least, I think it is—I haven’t been there in a very long time indeed!)
thomastace: Going by the recent licensing plans (linked to in my previous posts here,) the old Mezzanine/Studios Screen 1 (approx. Ground Floor level) has been converted into 2 VR Rooms.
moviebuff82: I would imagine that it will drawn some of the innumerable overseas tourists wandering around the heart of London’s West End—but I can’t say I’ve noticed any during my trips in recent years to the OLS, as the auditorium wasn’t very well filled!
I’ve certainly noticed patrons from North America in the Cineworld (Empire) Leicester Square IMAX; presumably the sparkling refurbishment and Dolby Cinema signage will help “bring in the punters,” as we say.
Ticket prices advertised as “£7.99 every film, every day.”
I have taken a number of photos of the replacement building over the past few months and hopefully will get around to uploading them sooner rather than later!
Suffice to say for now, the building is externally taking form, with much glazing installed, and the metal framework for the corner “tower” below which will be the entrance to the replacement Odeon, being almost topped out.
terry: The Vue West End still has tabs and moveable masking, all operating on my last visit to Screen 5—and, these days, I don’t think any other Vue location includes tabs?
FanaticalAboutOdeon: Thank you for your detailed reply from the 24th, and also for the correction regarding the signage—apparently, I hadn’t been deceived by my “eyes” after all!
As you say, LED has largely displaced neon, which has been relegated to “specialist” applications.
The neon strips at the top of the Vue West End’s facade were reinstated in the 2017 refurbishment, being in a similarly poor state to the neon that was attached to the OLS' facade—alas, sections already look bent and presumably will come away sooner rather than later!
Alas, unlike neon tubes, LEDs are not an inherently smooth linear and omnidirectional light source; hopefully the OLS' new lighting will be suitably specified.
Regarding the Cineworld (Empire) IMAX auditorium lighting, IIRC, the sequencing is actually just red/green/blue, each held for about 30 seconds, with a 10 second fade—quite unimaginative as you say!
The system is highly specified, though, with 151 ISTL Prolix LED “bars” containing selected* red, green and blue OSRAM LEDs—considerably more expensive than the LED strips used as features in most auditoria.
I imagine that the OLS will be following the Dolby Cinema “blue” lighting scheme rather than sequenced colour mixing?
(*i.e. the LEDs are measured and sorted into “bins” during manufacturing, ISTL claim to use the highest output—i.e. best—ones in the Prolix-series strips.)
Circle “pageant box” — I noticed from the renderings that this has been lost, which is unfortunate! The difficulty is that any cinema with a large balcony poses a challenge acoustically—one problem being reflections straight back to the screen off the balcony edge—so the option is, I imagine, between keeping the box, and sufficient acoustic treatment.
The licensing plans do show a “lighting bar” at ceiling level, although whether this will see any more use than the existing one that you mention is another matter!
That does at least sound promising from a feasibility standpoint!
On visiting an iSense auditorium at the Odeon Orpington recently, it seemed to me that moveable masking was used. Do you know what Odeon’s current policy is regarding masking?
Control of “lateral” reflections off sidewalls is imperative, in order to achieve a high standard of dialogue intelligibility and stereo imaging.
The “3D” flying ladies from the ‘98 refurbishment would tend to act in a more diffuse fashion than a flat wall, with more of the sound simply heading off to another wall (and, provided it’s treated, end up being absorbed there!) It seems to me, also, that they are would be too small in relative surface area to “cripple” system performance.
However, the whole front end of the auditorium needs to be controlled and I expect the ceilings/splay walls have been covered over with acoustic absorption hidden by stretched fabric, per today’s industry standard practice.
(Incidentally, have you any idea how much was removed in the strip-out? I’m assuming that all the plasterwork to the sidewalls/ceiling above the circle was kept?)
Given concerns about the acoustic effects of the flying ladies, and—whilst renderings are often very misleading—I have a suspicion that the reinstatement will be indeed be flatter and will be finished with (yet more!) stretched fabric.
So far so good—a wonderful “Christmas present,” I trust, awaits!
A planning application for “non-material amendments” to the original application is available to view, with the the following documents showing the cinema’s floor plan:
The largest auditorium shown is marked as “AUDITORIUM 11,” and measuring its size off these plans, its internal width is ~24m.
Auditorium depth between the demising wall behind the screen to the back wall is ~30m; if I’m not mistaken, the last row of seating is ~26m from the screen, and if so, the design esssentially confirms to the IMAX requirement of the last row not to be greater than the screen width away from the screen.
Behind this last row of seating is a “disabled viewing area.”
Errata: The Odeon brand signage may not be new.
joeswin: I may well be mistaken and “over-excited” in stating that the Odeon signage is “new!”—d'oh!
I’m not sure it makes sense sequencing-wise, presumably the signage subcontractor will be on site later.
Light leakage from the “Christmas in Leicester Square” fair in Leicester Square Gardens may have been reflecting off the signs last night, making them look misleadingly bright and new.
Albeit, the relevant proposed signage elements don’t look particularly different in the planning application, and I notice from other photos taken during the works that those signs were not removed, so perhaps the existing is simply being kept?
cultman1: Appears to be on track with the glass box closing off access from the square and soon ready for the finishing (aka loosely “Cat B”) stage of the foyer fit-out. My guess is that the auditorium is further advanced not being open to the elements and the sequencing seems to be from the stage house/auditorium end out to the Leicester Square facade.
IOW, it might not look like it, but one might say that the project is actually pretty much done, it “just” needs “decorating.” The site should soon be buzzing away with the final race on for the stated opening! Exciting times… :–)