Odeon Leicester Square

The Odeon, Leicester Square is now a two screen cinema – though mercifully not “twinned”. A white screen for 2D product sits in the conventional screen frame with attendant top and side masking. When 3D product is shown, the frame is wheeled to the rear of the stage and a silver screen is lowered from the fly tower to replace it. The screen speakers are separately mounted and positioned behind whichever screen is being used. Having both white and silver screens enables optimum visual quality for both digital formats. When the silver screen is being used, it precludes the use of both sets of tabs and when it was hung, the spot bar with twelve profile spots focussed on the screen tabs and filtered blue (part of 1998’s revamp) had to be removed to allow for the raising and lowering of the silver screen. Fourteen of the eighteen pageant spotlights housed on the balcony front survived the revamp but were rewired on one circuit instead of three so the blending and changing of three different colours was replaced by all lanterns being filtered rose pink. The “pageant box” also accommodates four less powerful spots shuttered and focussed – open white – on the golden figures adorning the splay walls.

Looking at the Odeon’s official website today, I see it proclaims that the Odeon Leicester Square premiere screen is Europe’s premiere cinema.

Have loaded a picture showing How Rank organised Royal Premier seating in the old days…

It is a double World Premier using the Odeon Leicester Square and the Empire Theatre. Due to renovations to Leicester Square (to return it to its Victorian splendour in time for the 2012 Olympic Games), the pre-show is being held in Trafalgar Square, after which guests will walk to the two Leicester Square cinemas to view the film.

a rare diagram of what this place is and was about !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevp/5350564388/

A wonderful theatre. I used to go there all the time when I lived in London prior to retirement, Its great to still have a large cinema and not a shoe box with 6 armchairs and a TV screen, I think they call them Multiplex Cinemas. Ha Ha. Go to the Odeon on a special occassion and see the Compton Organ played by Donald MacKenzie,the House Organist…Its well worth it. or better still go to the Odeon when they are showing a special Saturday morning Silent Movie with Donald at the Compton Organ as backgroung for music and special effects. That is an experience.
If only the Odeon Group would bring back the Organ for most Friday and Saturday evening performances I’m sure it would enhance ticket sales. Where else in the Capital would you get such a treat,like cinemas were 40or 50 years ago.

I have been here twice, most recently during the run of “Casino Royale” and it certainly is a must-see for lovers of classic cinema, given its history and, to a degree, its architecture and interior design (keeping in mind that interior modifications have apparently robbed it of some of the original detail). That said, I suspect that 70mm here would not be as impressive as it would be at the Empire (or as it would have been at the original Marble Arch). As others have noted, the screen and proscenium arch seem rather small, given the size of the auditorium. As a side note, if you ever get there, I recommend getting seats in the circle (balcony); even though one is further from the screen, seats there are newer and more comfortable, whereas the seats in the stalls (main floor) are older (and upholstered, if memory serves, in leopard skin design) with limited legroom.

So what, MikeRogers, the James Bond movies were not in 70mm here in the United States, either (except for “Octopussy” and, if you wish to count it, “Never Say Never Again”).

Very interesting stories and photos.

2007 photo of the Odeon
View link

Some photographs of the Odeon and vintage photographs, memorabilia and history of the Alhambra Theatre which stood on the site:
http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Alhambra.htm

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