Edwards Big Newport 6
300 Newport Center Drive,
Newport Beach,
CA
92660
300 Newport Center Drive,
Newport Beach,
CA
92660
34 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 101 comments
I believe all engagements of Ghostbusters had to be presented in 4K for the re release. The Big Newport has a Barco 2K projector.
Hey, Regal, if your listening: It would have been nice to see the Ghostbusters re-release on the big screen this week. The Cinerama Dome in Hollywood had it.
OCRon
I think you forgot to post the link.
Just read through the comments. Does no one have any photos of the main auditorium??
Avoided the Big Newport this weekend and caught the 10AM Star Trek Into Darkness at the AMC Tustin. Very nice presentation; especially in 3D. For fun, checked the showtimes for Trek at the Big Newport. First show wasn’t until 1:15 PM. Why such a late start for a major release on opening weekend? So they could show Pain and Gain at 10:30 AM, silly.
Seriously? A four-week-old film gets the first big-screen showing on a Saturday? Unless Regal was hosting a screening for fitness professionals that morning, that film has absolutely no business on the big screen after four weeks.
Both films have virtually the same running times so that shouldn’t have played into their thinking. I mean is it possible Regal actually thought Pain and Gain would do better on the big screen at that time over Star Trek opening weekend? If so, I’d really like to meet their focus groups.
With each passing week, Regal makes it easier to avoid the Big Newport all together. Kind of sad. I guess I’ll just have to remember the good times, when Edwards used to run things.
I’ve been a loyal patron of the Big Newport for over 30 years now. For my money, there just isn’t a better place to see an “event” film in OC than in the massive, velvet-draped main auditorium. That said, Regal really needs to stop tinkering with the showtimes for films on the big screen. I checked the paper for Iron Man 3 on Friday and the first showing was at 10 AM. Ok, so the wife and I get up early on Sat morning with the intent of catching the first show and while grabbing some breakfast out I by chance glance at the showtimes again and they’ve changed to 10:30 AM. The 10AM is now on one of the smaller screens. This is the second time in a year, that I know of, where the times for the big screen have changed within 24 hours. Sure, the times stay the same, but the screens sure don’t.
Regal needs to understand that the big screen is a bit of an institution in Orange County and that people actually do make the trek from all over the region to see a movie there. In the old days, you looked at the showtimes for the big screen on Friday and knew your movie would be playing at those times at least until the following Thursday. You didn’t have to check back daily to see if the times had changed.
Even Regal’s staff members weren’t sure what showtime was on the big screen this past Saturday morning. And the marquee hanging over the lobby doors wasn’t helping matters either: it listed the first show on the big screen at 10AM, not the 10:30 posted in Saturday’s paper.
I was hoping to catch Star Trek, Man of Steel and The Lone Ranger on the big screen this summer but I’m thinking the AMC in Tustin is looking like a better choice. At least there I don’t have to keep checking showtimes on a daily basis.
Becky: The screen in the main auditorium of the Edwards Big Newport is 71 feet wide, at maximum. The screen has masking which can be used to block light from part of it when the theater shows movies that don’t have the right aspect ratio to fill it completely.
This may be a ridiculous question, but is the 71ft width, height, or diagonal?
Amen, lukesky7
“Black Sunday”(77); “Breaking Away”(78); “Empire Strikes Back”(80) “Return Of The Jedi”(83), among others! It really doesn’t get any better than the Big Newport experience. Delighted that they brought the curtain back, also. A new generation now gets to see how movies are PROPERLY presented! Now, if we could just get rid of annoying pre-show commercials/previews(FOR TV???) & adverts! It just KILLS it!
I realize adverts pay for operations, etc, but come on, keep it on tv & out of this beautiful theatrical experience for crying-out-loud! Anyone else hearin' me on this?
Caught War Horse on the big screen the day after Christmas. While it took a while for a couple of the house lights to go out, it was overall a very enjoyable presentation.
I agree with you, Flix 70. Edwards Big Newport is a portal to movie magic. There’s something really special about that auditorium. There’s no better theater to see a movie on opening night… so many classics over the years… so many great audiences.
If presentation is important to you, there really is no better place to see a movie in OC than the 1100-seat Big Newport. It is the county’s version of the Cinerama Dome and Chinese theatre in L.A. Nothing else comes close for my money.
I’ve seen some great shows there over 30-plus years – The Black Stallion, The Empire Strikes Back, The Right Stuff, Last Crusade, Batman (will always remember that as James Edwards Sr. told me to remove my feet from the seat in front of me at a midnight screening) and SW Episode 1 on opening night to name a few.
A smile never fails to form on my face just sitting there waiting for the show to start. It’s like visiting an old friend eveytime I enter the autotorium.
If you have had a bad experience there, I assure you it’s a rarity and urge you to give it another try.
When I was in So Cal, took the time and saw a movie in this awesome theater, Ok Arthur was an OK
movie it was watchable, But the theater is One of a Kind, Big Screen Big Sound, Big Fun !
My only concern is maintenance, Its time for drapery, seat and carpet replacements, the theater is in a
super nice area of Southern California lets make sure this theater stays around for a long time
funny when I managed theatres in the 70’s and 80’s we had trained UNION operators that were not scoring with Debbie in the candy room.
Just as your car can be maintained 100% and cared for all the time, you probably don’t change your tail light before it burns out.
Many theatres preview their films and they may run fine for dozens of shows, but then that ONE show something goes wacky. Sounds in this case that an amplifier may have gone bad and at that point there is probably nothing that can be done until a replacement is found.
As for why the staff didn’t catch the problem, I may agree with you there. A good projectionist (especially at a six-plex) will make rounds and check the sound from both up in the projection booth and in the auditorium.
But also — you realize this isn’t Regal’s website — so they’ll never see this.
Don’t waste your money at:
Edwards Big Newport 6
300 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92808
(949) 640-4600
What a joke your Big Newport Theater is!!
My husband and I took the afternoon off work to see the 1:45 pm showing of “Adjustment Bureau”. We arrived early to the show, viewed the adverts prior to the feature and during the previews for the other films realized the audio was all wrong. Basically, there spoken track was muted to a whisper and the background track was cranked to full. I and several other patrons repeatedly approached the staff to ask that the audio be corrected. After several attempts with no fix the movie started and although we approached the projectionist and the other personnel on site all we were told is to get our money back. There was absolutely no sense that they cared one bit about the failure to project the movie with proper audio. They just let it run on and on and on. This is not the first time this has happened to us at this theater. They do not seem to have qualified people on staff, or they just care very little for their patrons. Is there not a quality control check of the films screened before they are shown to the public? Why did the technician not monitor and realize the problems early with the previews BEFORE the film started. What kind of service is this if they cannot do the one thing — show a film — they are paid dearly to do. The on-site manager was of no help either and had no sense of lost pride regarding their failure to provide us with the service we paid for.
We and all the other patrons (I’d estimate 20) received refunds, but I guarantee I will never visit this cinema again and I will avoid as much as possible the Regal Chain. Terrible attitudes regarding quality work. Just pathetic!
Wanted to see Unstoppable today so I called the theater to ensure it was in the big house. I asked if they had switched to Digital projectors and that this was the first week. They are using Sony 4K in all auditoriums except for the Big Newport auditorium, where they are using a Barco projector (I think Cinemark’s XD uses the same). I was told the screen was replaced with a silver one that was the exact same size. So I headed out to check it out.
The preshow was annoying, but after wards the curtains actually closed! Lights came down and they opened up and there was a slide on the screen that said Edwards Big Newport that stayed on till the curtains were opened and the masking went wide. It was a great presentation. The show as awesome. I have been here a few times and was never that impressed with the picture, it always seemed dark. That issue is gone. The image quality was great, now I have never seen a 70mm film here so I cant compare it to that. Compared to the 35mm films I have seen here, this was far more impressive.
The sound was something else. It was so loud, but clear and clean. The bass made your shirt move and the surround was quite noticeable. This was by far the best show I have seen at this fantastic theater. There were about 40 people maybe in that large house for the 10:20 show on opening weekend Saturday night.
Well alrighty then.
Mr. Ruhle has obviously slid to our universe….from a parallel where the Edwards VP was a Member of IATSE Local 504 (Orange County CA) He was never a member of our Local. I have been a member of Local 504 since 1978. Furthermore they way you have worded your blog I do not beleive that you were a member of IATSE. You certainly were not a professional projectionist and it seems that your being fired was appropriate. Had you been a member of the IA I would have filed charges against you for violating our jurisdiction and for conduct unbecoming a member.
The architectural firm of Pearson & Wuesthoff designed the 400-seat second auditorium opened at Edwards Newport in 1971. This was reported in the August 24, 1970, issue of Boxoffice. They might have designed the Newport itself, though I’ve been unable to track down any confirmation of this. The same firm designed Edwards Harbor Twin Cinemas in 1970, and a number of other theater projects during that period.
Yes, the Edwards VP was also a member of the Projectionist Union.
JohnMessick, sorry to take two and a half years to answer you. Absolutely nothing happened to me. He could not sue because I was just an employee there to help with no contract. I just went back to the Chinese and told my LA business agent that the VP can do XXX with his theater. Later, the VP got fired! Now, the VP could have sue his own Orange County union for not having their own men in the booth, but not LA union. Get this, the VP was actually a member of the Orange County union. And I knew this. He could never sue his own union, that FREAK!!!
I’d take that website’s info with a grain of salt. For the bulk of the mid-2000’s, I practically lived at this theatre. I NEVER had any issues with actor/subtitle/credit cropping…at least not in the MAIN auditorium. As for the auditorium to the right of the main one, THAT’S A DIFFERENT STORY! ;o)
at bignewport.com it says the screen is 40x80. Thats 2 to 1. Not 2.4 to 1 or 1.85 to 1. Edwards had mulitplexes with fixed screens like that down in San Diego County as well. How can they get away with that! I remember seeing a few films at their theaters back in the ‘90’s. Credits and subtitles and actors would be cropped off or missing. Ridiculous. Needless to say I never went back.
When Regal took over did they do away with those stupid fixed screens and install screens with adjustable masking so that films can be shown in the proper aspect ratio?