Cineworld Cinema - Leicester Square 4DX

CF100 on May 8, 2018 at 5:38 pm

Visiting the 4DX today to attend a screening of “Avengers: Infinity War,” I must first say that the whole experience was tainted by what must be the worst film I’ve seen in a cinema in a very long time—quite possibly ever.

I’m not someone who would normally watch a “Marvel franchise” film, and for me it was 160 minutes of incomprehensible drivel, interspersed with “jokes” (albeit, whilst I rolled my eyes, they were a good source of mirth for the other patrons.)

Onto the 4DX auditorium. As I fumbled around with my phone to check my seat number, a member of staff actually picked my up bag and 3D glasses off the floor, and carried them over to my seat. Fantastic!

The auditorium is exactly as expected—I previously posted the notion that the average patron “might even think that it was entirely purpose-built,” and that was absolutely the case. (I should add that the auditorium and the lobby/foyer areas still retained some of the scent of being new.)

The projection was very well aligned, with slight barrel distortion towards the bottom of the screen, and it did seem to fill the entire screen during the main feature, for which—given the dark surroundings—the lack of masking was not objectionable. There was some fall off of brightness towards the edge of the screen, but this was only really noticeable during the end credits.

However, the projection had poor black levels, whilst this was ameliorated by the 3D glasses, and colours seemed to be reasonably well calibrated, dark areas were clipped, and the brightness was not really sufficient for 2D, let alone 3D.

Klipsch rear array speakers are used. The sound was pretty good, and at times loud, although it seemed to ultimately lack LFE capability and seemed pushed and limited at peak levels. The screen speakers also sounded slightly too dull.

The 4DX seating seems to be upholstered in what I assume is microfibre-type material. The seats are well padded, but the armrests are not, and I suspect wear and tear will take its toll. They are certainly not as comfortable as they look!

Onto technical aspects of 4DX: the seating motion is impressive, the water and stobbing effects aren’t, and the fog and scent effects are reasonable, albeit the fog tends to “drift” in the current direction of airflow within the auditorium.

It worked very well indeed for the 4DX trailer, but it felt very much “tacked on” to the feature itself, and for me it tended to draw my attention out of the film rather than adding to the immersion. As an example, when an on-screen character was physically attacked, the seating poked my back! Frankly, in the context of a feature film, a sound system with good LFE capability is more effective at providing a visceral augmentation of the picture.

A word of caution: the 4DX Safety Warnings, also prominently displayed at the entrance to the 4DX, must be carefully read and understood before entry, and adhered to in the auditorium. For the sake of adding context, for example, the guidelines state that “4DX motion chairs employ strong motion,” and they mean it: the seats move rapidly with tremendous force at times, almost reminiscent of certain rollercoasters (“Saw: The Ride” at Thorpe Park, for instance.)

I think it would be a fantastic system for theme park use, it just doesn’t really work for feature films not created as 4DX-specific content from the outset.

I imagine, however, that the rest of the patrons in attendance enjoyed both the movie and the 4DX element; Cineworld have certainly made something out of a “dud” auditorium, and the limitations of 4DX may well be forgiveable in the context of a film that I liked.

Finally, the auditorium was too hot; it wasn’t stuffy, so the air change rate was adequate, but I didn’t expect to have to rely on blasts from the 4DX fans to cool off!

A few more observations and photos, particularly of the staircase down to the auditorium, to follow.

CF100 on April 22, 2018 at 5:37 am

Wider view of the 4DX.

Photo of the vestibule and another of the 4DX.

From the latter linked article:

“The work turned up some historical artefacts, including a press cuttings book from the early 1950s, with articles about the cinema, visits of Hollywood stars and dancers pulling on tap shoes to mark an auditorium makeover.”

Really now… maybe it was found when they lowered the 4DX’s concrete floor?!

Some more articles with photos:

Photos of the foyer, 4DX, and the “Press Cuttings” book.

View of the 4DX screen from the back of the auditorium.

Still the problem of the low ceiling, but looks like a good remodelling of what was once a throughly unappealing place to see a film. (Particularly if you ended up behind one of the columns as I once did—albeit that was back in the mid-90s!) They’ve certainly managed to “jam” a “4DX” into the old “Ritz” auditorium, and it must have been a nightmare project; it’s so similar in layout to other 4DXs that, if you weren’t aware of the auditorium’s history—and naturally the vast majority of patrons won’t be—you might even think that it was entirely purpose-built!

Zappomatic on August 21, 2017 at 10:18 am

Quite a lot of work going on to fit in the 4DX, with the floor lowered and old projection booth brought back into use.

“Breaking of the lower level concrete slab of the room and rebuild at a lower level to increase the space required for the system and new seating arrangement. Installation of suspended trusses between the columns which will support the equipment for the 4D effects (wind fans, water spray tanks, snow machine, fog machine) – Removal of all projector and installation of new one at the back of the room, in the former projection booth. – New floor, wall and ceiling finishes – New finishes at the access staircase and lobby. – All fire escapes remain unchanged.” (with thanks to CF_100 for finding the building control application)

Zappomatic on August 13, 2017 at 4:45 pm

No programming in this screen this week, presumably closed for conversion to 4DX.

AdoraKiaOra on May 4, 2007 at 4:58 am

I remember this being called ther Ritz Leicester Sq but is still no better today than it was then. Most cinemas around Leicester SQUARE seem to be BOXES- maybe it should be renamed Liecester BOX – look at the seating capacitys of the Odeon Panton Street, The Empires 2 & 3, most of the VUe cinemas (ex Warner) and the shoeboxes that are the Odeon Mezzanine- i know there are plasma TVs you can buy for your home that are bigger than some of these screens!

SethLewis on July 31, 2005 at 2:21 am

Have seen a number of Paramount and Universal releases here over the year including Carlito’s Way, Henry & June, Jungle Fever, Schindler’s List, Star Trek Generations and Gangs of New York

This whole complex seems lately to playing second fiddle since the Odeon UCI merger with moveovers coming in from across the square…a shame because despite its basement location this is still a good screen in which to see a first run if you can survive without stadium seating