Vue Portsmouth
Gunwharf Quay,
Portsmouth,
PO1 3TA
Gunwharf Quay,
Portsmouth,
PO1 3TA
1 person
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The refurbishment is rather good. Besides the recliner seats and new stadia stepping, all the walls have a black matte finish which makes the auditorium very dark with no light reflection. This technique is used in other Vue cinemas, it’s good.
The screens still remain at 7 in Scope and 7 flat. The 7 auditoria with 1.85 screens are fairly square but I believe that Scope screens could be fitted. There is a slight room for wider screens. With Scope screens, that would then reduce the size of the screen for 1.85 films but, given the general size of the auditoria in question, that would not be a bad decision. In my opinion it would actually be an improvement for both types of films.
Refurbished with full recliner seating in the summer of 2022- no changes to the screens aside from new stadia structures and the recliners themselves.
A fairly standard Warner Village multiplex of its time. Of the original 11 screens, the larger auditoria are good, fairly wide and with Scope screens while the smaller ones are fairly narrow, box like and with just 1.85 screens. All have stadium seating.
It opened in 2001 with 3 empty shells which later became screens 6, 7 and 8. Although relatively small, the auditoria are quite wide so have impressively large Scope screens.
Of the current 14 auditoria, there are now 7 Scope screens (Nos 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 12) which have, or had, movable side masking. I am not sure if the masking is still in use; I rather think not and that it is permanently set out to Scope irrespective of the film showing.
Screens 2 and 4 were slightly unusual in their 35mm days as to go to Scope the top masking lowered a bit and the side masking went out a bit, a combination of the two. Now in digital, the 1.85 image is slightly smaller with the top masking permanently lowered, so going out to Scope just becomes the standard side expansion.
The 7 auditoria with 1.85 screens are 1, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14. All had top down masking for 35mm Scope movies but now the image is just “letterboxed” mid screen with no top/bottom masking, which sadly seems to be common nowadays.
Despite the date in the camera data, my photographs were taken in June 2013.
A photograph of Gunwharf Quay, in May 2005:
http://flickr.com/photos/fdaitne/15429941/
Vue Cinemas photographed in June 2008:
http://flickr.com/photos/beast2891/2621587882/