Odeon Luxe London Leicester Square
26 Leicester Square,
London,
WC2H 7LQ
26 Leicester Square,
London,
WC2H 7LQ
44 people
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Just spotted a “3D Glasses Store” off the circle foyer. Might just be another clue that it will be a Dolby Cinema…!
New seating capacity (as I counted on the licensing plans)–
Royal Circle: 90 (recliner) + 2 disabled. Circle: 446. Stalls: 258 (recliner) + 4 disabled.
Total = 794 + 6 disabled.
Looking at the licensing plans, the stalls have steps up to each of the last three rows. Revisiting the old cross-sectional drawing, it’s clear that these are needed to raise up the new rear of the stalls to entrance foyer level.
It is also obvious from the cross-sectional drawing that the revised stalls seating obviates the rear stalls sightline issue, where for the very rear seats the balcony only just avoided obscuring the top of the screen. Presumably a 1.9:1 screen (~25ft. high) could now be installed.
With the screen (at least according to the licensing plans!) moved slightly forward, all of the “recliner” seats will be within, by my estimates, 1.5x screen distance away from the screen. If not “IMAX” standard, this is still sort of in line with what Odeon brands as “immersive” for their iSense auditoria.
LARGE_screen_format: Certainly have been many spectaculars attached to the OLS over the years! IIRC “Europe’s Premiere Cinema” was written across the main doors from LSQ right up until it was closed for refurbishment; it’s certainly still there in the October 2017 dated Google Streetview shot. I guess it must have been changed from “Europe’s Largest Cinema” at some point?
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.
As Terry says “at the expense of capacity” I’ve been in awe of this theater partly because when looking around in the auditorium at a full house for various films like James Bond, special events, and other sold out films, there were hundreds- 1700 or so, filmgoers! Now the capacity will be severely shrunk though I haven’t read a total number. I hope films will be properly masked & the curtain used, as it was before AMC acquired Odeon.
Thank you Terry.
Great to hear about the ABC Globe restoration (which I wasn’t aware of), and fascinating to watch the videos that you linked to on its Cinema Treasures page.
I refer to Ian’s comment re ‘Super Cinemas’ still in their original form.
The term was used in the 1930’s in reference to (then) modern very large capacity cinemas usually with full stage facilities, Wurlitzer or Compton organs and restaurants as additional incentives to visit.
Whilst there is no dispute re OLS in this regard – and it is indeed the very last such venue operating exclusively or primarily as a cinema – examples quoted such as the Rio Dalston, Picture-House, Hebden Bridge and, in particular, The Tyneside, Newcastle were never , and are not, ‘Super Cinemas’.
They may be, in their particular areas, the nearest one can get to ‘Super Cinemas’ simply because they have survived – but ‘Super’,in accordance with the original term, they are certainly not.
The Tyneside, in particular, was a News Theatre and at its largest was a mere 412 capacity. These days it is around the 200 mark .
Had the North East been particularly fortunate in retaining a ‘Super Cinema’ it would, without doubt, have been the Odeon (Paramount) , Newcastle Upon Tyne which was listed and then, very conveniently, de-listed.
Fortunately,currently undergoing restoration, is the next best ‘Super Cinema’, the ABC Globe, Stockton on Tees. At 2,429 seats,it was a ‘cat’s whisker’ behind the Odeon Newcastle which, prior to subdivision, had 2,458 seats. The Globe, I hasten to add, has a much deeper and better equipped stage and, for this reason in particular, is considered worthy of preservation.
Re the Odeon Leicester Square, I am delighted that its integrity is to be preserved, albeit at the expense of capacity. How strange it is that theatre- goers are still prepared to put up with 1930’s seating and spacing, but cinema patrons require much greater comfort and up to date configuration.
Ken Roe, interesting about the Astoria getting a new large screen in ‘65 because on its page it says after the successful run of Half a Sixpence through much of '68 the theater was then gutted and remodeled for the 70mm CCBB. Sixpence was Panavision.
I still find 46 ft incredibly small for major first run showings of SOM and SP in the huge Dominion. I would have been very disappointed. But these must hold the record for the longest movie runs in the world. Anybody know of any films that played longer elsewhere? Rocky Horror midnight shows do not count.
Sorry Ian! :–(
Just getting over-excited… (and I’m afraid mid-Hampshire is about as far out of London that I’ve got this year.) I would have thought the new information on the OLS refurb would be received as very good news here?
Erm, I would take issue with “ It is the last “super cinema” still essentially in its original form operated as a cinema in the UK!”
Granted stage entertainments take priority over film at such venues as the Plaza Stockport, but the Rex Berkhamsted; Odyssey (Odeon) St Albans; Rio Dalston; Curzon Mayfair; Picture House Hebden Bridge; Tyneside Newcastle; Picture House Campbeltown; and probably several others can lay claim to being a super-cinema still operating “essentially in its original form”. There is life outside London!
Hyperbole is not helpful.
LARGE_screen_format:
I thought so too—but let’s do a crude “back of an envelope” cost calculation:
According to Independent Cinema Office – How to Start a Cinema – Capitalisation:
“At the top of the range a specialist exhibitor would expect to pay around £2,000 per square metre [for fitting out.]”
No idea when this guide was published, plus all the other factors that would need to be taken into consideration— however, the cost/sq.m. can be estimated for recent refurbishments of the neighbouring cinemas:
Empire 1 IMAX conversion – Estimated ~1500sq.m., cost £4m = £2700/sq.m.
Vue West End refurbishment – ~6000sq.m., cost £6.7m. = £1100/sq.m.
Cineworld (Empire) LSQ – Lobbies/4DX conversion/Screens 1-3 and 5-7 refurbishment – Estimated ~1300sq.m.*, suggested cost £5m = £3850/sq.m.
(*Lobbies/4DX area according to Chapman Taylor; other refurbished screens estimated.)
Unweighted average for Empire/Vue/Cineworld = ~£2600/sq.m.
Using this figure for the OLS – Estimated ~3000sq.m. (including former Studios but excluding stage house, basement, etc.) = ~£8m.
The scheme does involve structural alterations, particularly to the foyer areas; the addition of lifts and escalators, and a new “glazed box” balcony/canopy on the LSQ elevation.
Planning application in relation to above paragraph.
Also, the building fabric may require attention—the asbestos roof was replaced a couple of years ago, and the enabling works for the refurbishment also involved asbestos removal.
I agree that a giant screen in the OLS would be nice, but at the same time the fact that the auditorium looks like it will be reinstated in a state highly respectful to the heritage is a huge relief. It is the last “super cinema” still essentially in its original form operated as a cinema in the UK!
I’m trying to find the requirements for a Dolby Cinema—a What Hi-Fi? article says that the “The minimum screen size necessary is about 14m, but seat-wise there’s no specific size an auditorium needs to be to qualify for renovation.”
Addendum (again!):
In the process of editing, I seem to have accidentally deleted the following:
Vindanpar:The Todd-AO screen at the Dominion Theatre was 46ft wide and had a 5ft deep curve. It was located inside the 54ft wide proscenium.
cultman1:A new larger Todd-AO screen was installed in the Metropole Theatre in December 1959 (I don’t know the actual size). The initial roadshow screen at the Astoria was installed in 1957 and “the screen was not giant sized” according to Allen Eyles book “London’s West End Cinemas”. “Later in 1965 a huge 70mm screen had been installed”.
Another West End cinema set up for CinemaScope and later Cinemiracle was the Paramount, Tottenham Court Road which had a CinemaScope screen 53ft wide and 21ft tall with a 3ft deep curve in June 1953. This was replaced in May 1958 with a huge 71ft wide and 28ft tall Cinemiracle screen for “Windjammer” which extended beyond the proscenium arch and played with a 3-projectors system.
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.
Ken do you have measurements or images for the Old 70mm cinemas of The Astoria or Metropole?
I don’t know if the plans mean that it won’t be a Dolby Cinema, just that having conjured up possible schemes based on inferring the implications of the publically disclosed information from Odeon, not to mention the apparent secrecy and high projected cost, I’m very surprised.
Great news in the sense that it remains intact as it was, but compared to the ideas I had for more radical schemes it’s, well, boring—and I’ve got egg on my face now for my predictions (other than the change to the rear stalls) being so far off the mark!
Still, Dolby Cinema or not, I’m looking forward to the reopening…
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!
Addendum:
Licensing Application – Dated as Received 7th August 2018.
In summary:
Stalls:
Rear stalls largely removed to make way for toilets, switch room, “food prep” area, and concessions (namely, “Snacks and Cold Food; Order Hot Food,” “Hot Food Collection,” and “Coffee.”)
Stalls accessed through double sets of doors on the left side ONLY, via a small “lobby” area. (One pair of doors into the lobby, another into the auditorium.)
The last three rows of the new stalls are under the balcony; the rear of the auditorium, compared to previous, is about the position of the seat backs 7 rows from the rear. (5 in the centre section which omitted the last two rows.)
All seats are recliners.
Circle:
Royal Circle is now 3 rows deep, except it is 2 rows deep in the centre section. Seating capacity – 90.
Additional new wide centre vomitorium access to Royal Circle.
Back row of the new Royal Circle in line with the 5th row of the previous (formerly 6 rows deep.)
All seats (in the new Royal Circle) are recliners. Existing two aisles at sidewalls removed.
Rear circle – 14 rows of seats to rear wall. Rows in the same position as existing except 2 additional rows to rear wall. New seats of increased width; no centre aisle.
Front of auditorium:
Splay walls in same location.
Increased stage width shown.
Screen width identical as drawn but moved forward to be just behind proscenium opening. (Albeit this is probably not a reliable source for the absolute size and position.)
*Theatre lighting rail shown on “Second Floor” plan.
Alterations to ground floor and circle foyers:
Seating capacity of stalls and rear circle:
Former Odeon Mezzanine/Studios (now integrated with the OLS as the ground floor foyers are connected internally):
Screen 2: 34 seats (Former Screen 3 of Odeon Studios.)
Screen 3: 41 seats (Former Screen 2 of Odeon Studios.)
Screen 4 :40 seats (Former Screen 4 of Odeon Studios.)
Screen 5: 34 seats (Former Screen 5 of Odeon Studios.)
In all auditoria, most rows are 6 seats wide (the maximum) and all seats are increased width being drawn identically to the new rear circle seats. Row locations adjusted.
Projection rooms removed, alterations to access areas including new lift to all levels.
Stairwell adjacent to external wall to LSQ removed and Screen 3 (former Screen 2) extended forward.
Can’t be bothered to enumerate other changes to the former Odeon Mezzanine/Studios!
Looks like the main auditorium of the OLS will survive the refurbishment very much intact after all. Seems odd that Odeon were talking about installing a PLF screen… wonder if it will be a Dolby Cinema location after all?
This being said, the “First Floor” plan shows sightlines for 2D and 3D, with a 100° angle for 2D and 50° for 3D. (As drawn, about half of the Royal Circle seats are thus outside of the 3D seating area!) Not sure what the allowed angles are for Dolby Cinema, but it might be interesting to compare to the LSQ IMAX and/or other systems using wavelength multiplexed 3D.
On the Dominion page it says its Todd AO screen was 45 ft wide? It is this possible? It is pretty darn small for London’s most successful roadshow house in terms of lengths of runs.
Also 47 ft for the Odeon LSQ is pretty small as well. Hardly screens that are going to envelope you in vast theaters. I’d like to know what the size of the Warner screen was for its 60s 70mm films before it became a quad sadly before my trip to London in the mid 70s.
The deeply curved Cinerama screen at the London Coliseum was 80ft wide and 30ft tall (much bigger than the one at the London Casino (Prince Edward Theatre) which had a deeply curved screen 65ft wide & 26ft tall).
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.
Cutlman1, I was also thinking of the Prince Edward. I wasn’t in those- only in the Empire before division & Odeon L Sq, being here in the States & visiting in recent years. But, I know of them.
HowardBHaas: No idea about the accuracy of the opening programme although maybe that was the size of the screen on its frame.
Perhaps I should have asked if LARGE_screen_format’s screen size figure pertained to the 1990s as stated or if it was for the post-2006 upgrades—albeit as you intimate none of this is needed for relative comparisons between venues where the differences are >10ft.!
Howard that would be fascinating to step back and compare the original Cinerama sized screens to the more modern screens in the West End. From memory both The Astoria Cinerama in Charing Cross, Metropole in Victoria and The Coliseum in St Martin’s Lane had huge screens in the sixties.Does anyone have any stats or photos?
I think there is consensus that with the huge, curved screen (75 feet wide) at the Odeon Marble Arch that the screen was the largest in the West End, at least after Cinerama sized screens were gone from other theaters and it may have been the best showplace for many films while the curved screen was there. The stats also indicate that from 1963 until the auditorium was divided, the Empire’s large screen was about 60 feet wide (never mind the program’s assertion as to 63 feet, accurate or not), larger than the 47 feet wide (scope) Odeon Leicester Square. All three auditoriums were still very impressive & we will wait to see what size screen will be at the Odeon L. Sq. It might be interesting to take a step back & compare the Cinerama sized screens of West End theaters that previously had such screens.