I’ve been going through old copies of the Inquirer on Newspapers.com the last few days…I lived in Philly in the late 70s – shocking reminders of how oddly programmed Center City theatres were in those days – kung fu, hard core porn and horror double features that were rougher than NY’s 42nd street and this in the mainstream Budco and Eric houses before they were acquired by AMC and UA respectively. The only ones that seemed not to show porn were the Milgram theatres but they made up for it with blaxpo and kung fu. I’m not being judgemental – I appreciate this went with the times just seems so odd in retrospect especially when there were good studio films and foreign films being made
Stuck in Vegas for 6 months or so in the late 90s…saw First Wives Club, Michael Collins, Everyone Says I Love You, People vs Larry Flynt here…an efficient plex but not as much as seeing movies in casino hotels like Sam’s Town
Add The Grateful Dead Live Farewell Show, Woody Allen Magic in the Moonlight, Cafe Society, Black Mass, Star Wars, Moonlight, The Founder, Hidden Figures and quite a few more to this list…Screen 16 opens right onto the lobby so staff let you in with a code…It wouldnt hurt during a refurb to renumber the screens so that each side makes sense rather than 1-7 and 15-17 on one side…The Scene concept with at seat service seems not to have taken off here…there are plenty of F&B options inside the mall
The reality is that the largest cinema owner in the world is now Wanda which is keeping AMC as a brand in the US and Odeon in the UK amongst others. Adam Aron ex Starwood Hotels is running the whole group. They have recently announced a refurb/upgrade for the flagship Odeon Leicester Sq in London – they probably see the need (sorry too late for the Ziegfeld) for something similar in NYC
With the Vue closed for refurb and the Odeon West End gone, you would think that they could manage some decent first run bookings for the big screen here
I’m not sure there will be a big rush for Curzon, Picturehouse or Everyman to come in with new screens in the old BBC complex in Shepherd’s Bush due…I agree that the Western corridor is underscreened in terms of quality films not in terms of blockbusters when you have 5-7 screens in the two Vues showing the same product
The old Loews Oprheum and Cine marquees were far from perfect but certainly the Orpheum was fun to see when you were coming home at night either from the 86th St or 3rd Ave side
The current signage is almost redudant
Cinema Studio in the early 60’s was showing Spanish language pictures, transitioned into second run mostly from United Artists with some Fox and Warners' product went first run in the early 80’s when it was twinned
Saw Amarcord here in 1974, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Sex Lies and Videotape and one or two more in the late 80s
Rocky opened as an exclusive at the Cinema II Thanksgiving weekend and went wider before Xmas
I saw it there and the then Columbia I&II…and at a theatre in the Philly suburbs
Amazing the last refurbishment was in 1992 25 years ago
We’ve avoided this theatre like the plague in the last 10 years only using it for the odd exclusive or London Film Festival showing but did enjoy a long list of pictures here before and after the refurb – Driving Miss Daisy, Bonfire of the Vanities, The Fugitive, Faithless, Serial Mom, Big Night, Fifth Element, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Scream, Don Juan De Marco, Dick Tracy, Home Alone, Butcher Boy, LA Confidential, True Romance, Scooby Doo 2 (yes with my then young nephew), Brokeback Mountain (exclusive), The Aviator (exclusive) and probably quite a few more
Expect the LFF will make more use of Odeon Leicester Square, Odeon Covent Garden, PictureHouse Central and the Prince Charles but OLS and OCG are probably due for refurbs too
Another great trip to the movies at Scott Bridgwater last night for Rogue One…Cordial welcome proper ushering…the curtain closes after trailers and reopens for the feature…great locally sourced ice cream
And a 1/3 London prices
My only complaint is that with only 2 screens sometimes need to travel to Taunton to catch pictures in first week
But long live Scott’s Bridgwater
You go to Paris and have a great range of international film programming…All the US pictures and a well-curated mix of local and international product…The Odeon Panton Street does some good sub-run programming but is seriously out of date…This site just needs good programming to survive (a la the old Swiss Centre cinema)
A lot of this is happening in London with commitments to build theatres in the lower ground floors…I would imagine that NYC will start to see this a la Loews NY 1&2 (now Beekmans)
So the commitment to redevelopment would likely include theatres
A lovely city and a cool place to go to the movies…Saw Gladiator and Jet Set here while working in Aix…all of the multiplexes had different purposes…this one far more commercial than the other two which would programme much more art house fare
Lovely to have old school independents rather than Pathes
Great time yesterday morning 10:30 London Film Festival show La La Land with a Q&A with Damien Chazelle & Ryan Gosling
Scary the number of attendees that seemed never to have been there before and totally lost…the back rows are super hard to see in the dim light but that’s a churlish comment..the atmosphere of a full house…applause after the opening number and at the end was so so good…definitely in need of a refurb and probably a reduction in seats but there have to be enough tentpoles and interesting pictures to keep this busy
Next Saturday morning…Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals
Reserved seats are a way of life in the UK…if there is something we are serious about we book it with preferred seats (I like an aisle for my long legs)…Plenty of people go at the last minute…You get used to it…yes it takes the spontaneity and some of the fun out of moviegoing but think that if you can manage a mid-week afternoon show, or wait until Weeks 2 or 3 you pretty much can walk in and enjoy…The screen is reading the seating plans online and not ending up too close…Enjoy!
Have been here a few times since the late 90s'…more recent experiences quite good for a regional multiplex – Anchorman 2 / Central Intelligence / Life of Pi in 3D / Zoolander 2
Sausage Party preview tonight!
Great great summer season of films in 35mm and 70mm…Caught The Right Stuff in 70mm last night stunning presentation…good popcorn and bar too…we need to support this!
A shame but the old Marble Arch was very hard to book as a single screen from the 80’s onwards and the latest incarnation was a bit of a mess…tight stadium seating that was never comfortable…Speed 2…The Full Monty…The Tailor of Panama so you can tell when the last times I was there
Odeon did a pretty good job sorting itself out to be sold from a service perspective hopefully new owners will leave it alone
Basements may be the best we can hope for and take perspective that the Kingston plex is essentially downstairs and very good
I’ve been going through old copies of the Inquirer on Newspapers.com the last few days…I lived in Philly in the late 70s – shocking reminders of how oddly programmed Center City theatres were in those days – kung fu, hard core porn and horror double features that were rougher than NY’s 42nd street and this in the mainstream Budco and Eric houses before they were acquired by AMC and UA respectively. The only ones that seemed not to show porn were the Milgram theatres but they made up for it with blaxpo and kung fu. I’m not being judgemental – I appreciate this went with the times just seems so odd in retrospect especially when there were good studio films and foreign films being made
Stuck in Vegas for 6 months or so in the late 90s…saw First Wives Club, Michael Collins, Everyone Says I Love You, People vs Larry Flynt here…an efficient plex but not as much as seeing movies in casino hotels like Sam’s Town
Add The Grateful Dead Live Farewell Show, Woody Allen Magic in the Moonlight, Cafe Society, Black Mass, Star Wars, Moonlight, The Founder, Hidden Figures and quite a few more to this list…Screen 16 opens right onto the lobby so staff let you in with a code…It wouldnt hurt during a refurb to renumber the screens so that each side makes sense rather than 1-7 and 15-17 on one side…The Scene concept with at seat service seems not to have taken off here…there are plenty of F&B options inside the mall
The reality is that the largest cinema owner in the world is now Wanda which is keeping AMC as a brand in the US and Odeon in the UK amongst others. Adam Aron ex Starwood Hotels is running the whole group. They have recently announced a refurb/upgrade for the flagship Odeon Leicester Sq in London – they probably see the need (sorry too late for the Ziegfeld) for something similar in NYC
With the Vue closed for refurb and the Odeon West End gone, you would think that they could manage some decent first run bookings for the big screen here
I’m not sure there will be a big rush for Curzon, Picturehouse or Everyman to come in with new screens in the old BBC complex in Shepherd’s Bush due…I agree that the Western corridor is underscreened in terms of quality films not in terms of blockbusters when you have 5-7 screens in the two Vues showing the same product
The old Loews Oprheum and Cine marquees were far from perfect but certainly the Orpheum was fun to see when you were coming home at night either from the 86th St or 3rd Ave side The current signage is almost redudant
Cinema Studio in the early 60’s was showing Spanish language pictures, transitioned into second run mostly from United Artists with some Fox and Warners' product went first run in the early 80’s when it was twinned Saw Amarcord here in 1974, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Sex Lies and Videotape and one or two more in the late 80s
Rocky opened as an exclusive at the Cinema II Thanksgiving weekend and went wider before Xmas I saw it there and the then Columbia I&II…and at a theatre in the Philly suburbs
Amazing the last refurbishment was in 1992 25 years ago We’ve avoided this theatre like the plague in the last 10 years only using it for the odd exclusive or London Film Festival showing but did enjoy a long list of pictures here before and after the refurb – Driving Miss Daisy, Bonfire of the Vanities, The Fugitive, Faithless, Serial Mom, Big Night, Fifth Element, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Scream, Don Juan De Marco, Dick Tracy, Home Alone, Butcher Boy, LA Confidential, True Romance, Scooby Doo 2 (yes with my then young nephew), Brokeback Mountain (exclusive), The Aviator (exclusive) and probably quite a few more Expect the LFF will make more use of Odeon Leicester Square, Odeon Covent Garden, PictureHouse Central and the Prince Charles but OLS and OCG are probably due for refurbs too
This part of London is desperately underscreened… There was a rumor of a Virgin/UGC complex coming in before it went over to Cineworld…any updates?
Another great trip to the movies at Scott Bridgwater last night for Rogue One…Cordial welcome proper ushering…the curtain closes after trailers and reopens for the feature…great locally sourced ice cream And a 1/3 London prices My only complaint is that with only 2 screens sometimes need to travel to Taunton to catch pictures in first week But long live Scott’s Bridgwater
You go to Paris and have a great range of international film programming…All the US pictures and a well-curated mix of local and international product…The Odeon Panton Street does some good sub-run programming but is seriously out of date…This site just needs good programming to survive (a la the old Swiss Centre cinema)
A lot of this is happening in London with commitments to build theatres in the lower ground floors…I would imagine that NYC will start to see this a la Loews NY 1&2 (now Beekmans) So the commitment to redevelopment would likely include theatres
Great…UES is badly underscreened…Interesting that Cinemex and Cinepolis 2 Mexican chains now have a presence in Manhattan but far from critical mass
It will be interesting if the evolving demographics of NYC can make a go of this…Manhattan remains badly underscreened
A lovely city and a cool place to go to the movies…Saw Gladiator and Jet Set here while working in Aix…all of the multiplexes had different purposes…this one far more commercial than the other two which would programme much more art house fare Lovely to have old school independents rather than Pathes
Great time yesterday morning 10:30 London Film Festival show La La Land with a Q&A with Damien Chazelle & Ryan Gosling
Scary the number of attendees that seemed never to have been there before and totally lost…the back rows are super hard to see in the dim light but that’s a churlish comment..the atmosphere of a full house…applause after the opening number and at the end was so so good…definitely in need of a refurb and probably a reduction in seats but there have to be enough tentpoles and interesting pictures to keep this busy
Next Saturday morning…Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals
It’s a start
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/thousands-back-campaign-to-save-mayfair-curzon-from-closure-a3348601.html
Curzon Mayfair under threat…Not good…Next cinema saving campaign in London
Used to ride the bus past until June…sad to see the pictures getting ready for the demolition….remember it as a child in the 60’s
Reserved seats are a way of life in the UK…if there is something we are serious about we book it with preferred seats (I like an aisle for my long legs)…Plenty of people go at the last minute…You get used to it…yes it takes the spontaneity and some of the fun out of moviegoing but think that if you can manage a mid-week afternoon show, or wait until Weeks 2 or 3 you pretty much can walk in and enjoy…The screen is reading the seating plans online and not ending up too close…Enjoy!
Have been here a few times since the late 90s'…more recent experiences quite good for a regional multiplex – Anchorman 2 / Central Intelligence / Life of Pi in 3D / Zoolander 2 Sausage Party preview tonight!
Great great summer season of films in 35mm and 70mm…Caught The Right Stuff in 70mm last night stunning presentation…good popcorn and bar too…we need to support this!
A shame but the old Marble Arch was very hard to book as a single screen from the 80’s onwards and the latest incarnation was a bit of a mess…tight stadium seating that was never comfortable…Speed 2…The Full Monty…The Tailor of Panama so you can tell when the last times I was there
Odeon did a pretty good job sorting itself out to be sold from a service perspective hopefully new owners will leave it alone Basements may be the best we can hope for and take perspective that the Kingston plex is essentially downstairs and very good
RIP Odeon Marble Arch as we knew it