When I visited it in February 2016, it still reminded me of its Vue past, namely black matte walls, very dark auditoria when film is showing, wall-to-wall Scope screens and a good sense of proportion between screens and seating; all positive facets of latter Vue builds.
I’m sorry to hear that Cineworld are putting more light into the auditoria. I think generally that they are not as interested as other operators in making watching films a good experience by keeping lights off. I have heard this about other Cineworlds too.
I have just been into Screens 1 and 2, both excellent to watch movies in. Both had very large and impressive Scope screens, with no side masking if I recollect.
I was told that Screens 4 through 7 also have full Scope screens. Screen 3, for architectural reasons, just has a 1.85 screen which results in Scope films being shown letterboxed with no top/bottom masking.
I thought the cafe downstairs was excellent too. In fact, the whole cinema just has a nice feel to it which makes you want to go back there again.
I would be interested in knowing what the aspect ratios of all the screens are now.
Screen 1 is presumably the 1.90 digital IMAX ratio. When not used for IMAX presentations, standard 1.85 films will be shown very slightly pillarboxed and Scope films letterboxed at 2.39.
Screen 2 : I hope will be 2.39 Scope when refitted as a 4DX screen. I am not familiar with Cineworld 4DX standards.
Screen 3 Impact I presume is 1.85. I have seen one Scope movie there which by necessity was letterboxed to obtain 2.39. An Empire projectionist did tell me at the time that they were thinking of installing top and bottom masking as it would be better, but I guess nothing came of that.
Screens 4 and 5 were 2.39 Scope with side masking. Screen 4, I thought, was very impressive for the size of the auditorium.
Screen 6 was just 1.85 ‘Flat.’ I only went there once and didn’t like it. If I remember correctly they had bottom up masking to achieve the Scope frame. That may have changed now.
Screens 7, 8 and 9 were 2.39 Scope with side masking. Screen 7 I also thought was an impressive size for the auditorium.
Has anything changed or is anything about to change under Cineworld ?
Five of them (Nos 1, 4, 6, 8 and 11) have 2.39 Scope screens with Screen 8 being the largest and branded ‘XTreme’.
The remaining 7 have 1.85 screens necessitating Scope films being shown letterboxed top and bottom.
At the time of build in the 1990s it was standard Warner Village policy just to have full Scope screens in the larger auditoria with 1.85 ‘Flat’ screens in the smaller and often narrower auditoria. Then it didn’t matter so much as Scope films were not as common as they are today.
Although the auditoria are small, are all the screens full 2.39 Scope size … or are some (or all) just 1.85 which necessitates Scope movies being shown letterboxed ?
After its 1993 refurbishment 8 of the screens were full Scope screens with side masking. Just one (screen 2 I believe) had a 1.85 screen necessitating Scope movies being shown with top down masking; this was due to architectural constraints.
Is this still the situation after the 2017 refurbishment?
Is the masking still there. With 80% plus of movies now made in Scope, the current vogue is for cinemas not to have side masking and for 1.85 ‘Flat’ movies to be shown pillarboxed on the Scope screens.
When I visited it in February 2016, it still reminded me of its Vue past, namely black matte walls, very dark auditoria when film is showing, wall-to-wall Scope screens and a good sense of proportion between screens and seating; all positive facets of latter Vue builds.
I’m sorry to hear that Cineworld are putting more light into the auditoria. I think generally that they are not as interested as other operators in making watching films a good experience by keeping lights off. I have heard this about other Cineworlds too.
I have just been into Screens 1 and 2, both excellent to watch movies in. Both had very large and impressive Scope screens, with no side masking if I recollect.
I was told that Screens 4 through 7 also have full Scope screens. Screen 3, for architectural reasons, just has a 1.85 screen which results in Scope films being shown letterboxed with no top/bottom masking.
I thought the cafe downstairs was excellent too. In fact, the whole cinema just has a nice feel to it which makes you want to go back there again.
I would be interested in knowing what the aspect ratios of all the screens are now.
Screen 1 is presumably the 1.90 digital IMAX ratio. When not used for IMAX presentations, standard 1.85 films will be shown very slightly pillarboxed and Scope films letterboxed at 2.39.
Screen 2 : I hope will be 2.39 Scope when refitted as a 4DX screen. I am not familiar with Cineworld 4DX standards.
Screen 3 Impact I presume is 1.85. I have seen one Scope movie there which by necessity was letterboxed to obtain 2.39. An Empire projectionist did tell me at the time that they were thinking of installing top and bottom masking as it would be better, but I guess nothing came of that.
Screens 4 and 5 were 2.39 Scope with side masking. Screen 4, I thought, was very impressive for the size of the auditorium.
Screen 6 was just 1.85 ‘Flat.’ I only went there once and didn’t like it. If I remember correctly they had bottom up masking to achieve the Scope frame. That may have changed now.
Screens 7, 8 and 9 were 2.39 Scope with side masking. Screen 7 I also thought was an impressive size for the auditorium.
Has anything changed or is anything about to change under Cineworld ?
The cinema now has 12 screens.
Five of them (Nos 1, 4, 6, 8 and 11) have 2.39 Scope screens with Screen 8 being the largest and branded ‘XTreme’. The remaining 7 have 1.85 screens necessitating Scope films being shown letterboxed top and bottom.
At the time of build in the 1990s it was standard Warner Village policy just to have full Scope screens in the larger auditoria with 1.85 ‘Flat’ screens in the smaller and often narrower auditoria. Then it didn’t matter so much as Scope films were not as common as they are today.
Although the auditoria are small, are all the screens full 2.39 Scope size … or are some (or all) just 1.85 which necessitates Scope movies being shown letterboxed ?
After its 1993 refurbishment 8 of the screens were full Scope screens with side masking. Just one (screen 2 I believe) had a 1.85 screen necessitating Scope movies being shown with top down masking; this was due to architectural constraints.
Is this still the situation after the 2017 refurbishment? Is the masking still there. With 80% plus of movies now made in Scope, the current vogue is for cinemas not to have side masking and for 1.85 ‘Flat’ movies to be shown pillarboxed on the Scope screens.