Odeon Luxe London Leicester Square

Whilst there is certainly a buzz about the Odeon, particularly when the latest blockbuster is showing to a full house, and it is great that in the days when most cinemas are now bland multiplexes with tiny screens, they have retained the huge main auditorium intact, I personally feel the Odeon is over-hyped, over-priced and does not offer facilities that come anywhere close to the Empire across the Square.

The entrance foyer is crammed between the street and auditorium with very limited space on the Stalls level. The slate of the screen (due to the high location of the projection box) is very noticeable from the middle of the stalls forward. If it is busy, avoid the stalls as the seats are not raked sufficiently and your view will be partly obstructed by a tall person who chooses to sit in front of you. Added to which you can feel tube trains rambling underneath your feet.

Upstairs seats in the Royal Circle do offer good sightlines but these are the only ones that do and they come at a price – £24 the last time I went there (Mamma Mia last year or the year before that?).

The main screen at the Odeon is a maximum of 15.85m x 7.92m whereas at The Empire (which has a smaller auditorium â€" 1,330 seats compared with the Odeon’s 1,683) the screen size is 18.26 x 8.14. Sitting in the Rear Circle at the Odeon, the screen looks so small in comparison to the size of the auditorium that it feels like you are watching a portable television. Some seats even have restricted views.

The sound is good but on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is the best, the Odeon would not warrant 6 or 7 compared with 10 for the Empire’s 56kw THX certified system.

So why is it that distributors cannot see that the enjoyment of a film is enhanced by the Empire’s superior facilities but still choose the Odeon?

Hi,

Just to let you know the address isn’t correct, I got this from the official ODEON website: 22-24 Leicester Square

The Odeon seems to be used more and more as a giant billboard for specific films – the red does not suit it! The red plastic coating is for the film “The Boat That Rocked”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedoor/3454181126/

I can’t believe that I’ve been to London THREE TIMES but have never visited this theater. I must be a prize idiot.

Anyway, here is a nice article from the Daily Mail about the Royal premiere held here for the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace.

View link

Still sporting the white plastic finish put on the facade for the run of “Mama Mia”, the European Premiere of “The Dark Knight” is held on Monday 21st July 2008:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/2689038681/
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/2689040973/
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/2689854186/
As preparations for the event come to a climax, eager crowds gather mid-afternoon to greet the ‘red carpet’ stars arrival for the evening premiere:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/2689855976/

Leatherheads probably was meant to sound that way. The film itself was a throwback to 1930’s screwball comedies so I’d say Clooney intended for a mono-like mix for the soundtrack.

I wonder just how good Indiana Jones sounded at this not a really good technical Dolby dts SDDS8 cinema its pants. Saw “Leatherheads” (2008) there on (Sunday April 20th 2008) and it was pants PANTS! The fronts where so narrow sound stereo was almost non-existent stereo surrounds wasn’t even involving and why the cinema politics! Because Indiana Jones thou its not really the best of the last two Temple of Doom was kinder taking the piss and the last the newest with that U.F.O. at the end was like something from the ending of the X-Files 1998 movie, what a RIP OFF!

So be warned the Odeon Leicester square has a crap sound installation and isn’t the final word in sound that, belongs to the Empire Leicester square screen 1 and its power JBL customized THX 56KW, I would pay three time to have seen it at the Empire and I wouldn’t even pay a dog to crap on the floor at the Odeon Leicester square, shame, shame we know your name Odeon!

Many thanks to Ken Roe for adding the premiers to the Intro.

I attended the premiere of “Casino Royale” at the Odeon in November of 2006. The presentation was flawless. The Cinemascope aspect ratio was perfect. This is a terrific theatre!

I worked at the Odeon Leicester Square in 1973 (and at the same time – The Leicester Square Theatre, now Odeon West End). At that time both cinemas were owned by the Rank Organisation. I had a great year working on the square and there are a lot of happy memories. I think I preferred working at the Odeon as it always seemed to have a buzz about it. Maybe this was in part due to the organ being played at interval by the then resident organist, Gerald Shaw. The highlight of the year was the Royal Film Performance in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen. The film chosen that year was the forgetable musical remake of “Lost Horizon”. This was shot on 70mm film and I was the one who had to cart all the boxes up to the bio box! I also remember that Peter Finch made a speech before the picture and then had great difficulty finding his way through the curtain to get off stage. There were other wonderful nights such as the premiere of “A Touch of Class” with Glenda Jackson – they had a London taxi come up out of the orchestra pit for that, then there was the annual James Bond film premiere – that year it was Roger Moore in “Live and Let Die”. Joe Loss and his orchestra played at this premiere – I remember they had great difficulty with the theme from the film – but they got it right on the night. James Bond saw packed houses at every performance and there were about six performances a day. Another gala was the playing of the 1938 picture “Sixty Glorious Years” with Anna Neagal. The Queen Mother came along to this and I had the honour of opening her car door on arrival. The Odeon also used to show television pictures of major boxing matches and sometimes these would be on quite late. I often wondered how 2000 people could disappear so quickly from Leicester Square at three in the morning. The front of house staff had a rather bizarre uniform. The men wore a purple suit, with a pink shirt and a purple bow tie, the girls wore a pink dress with vertical stripes of differing shades of purple. I suppose it was one way of gaining customers' attention.

A pre revamp shot from 1987 here:–

View link

Your correct, I was looking at the wrong bit of the website.

Does anyone know what kind of projection equipment is installed? Sound system etc…

Quote: Ian

The Odeon Leicester Square incorrectly claims the “largest in Europe” tag – Scarborough’s Futurist holds 2155, although a full house for a film is unknown!

Problem being, if you look at the website for the Scarborough Futurist you will see they don’t show films any more. It’s a live theatre venue.