Omniplex Ipswich
Buttermarket and St Stephen's Lane,
Ipswich,
IP1 1DT
Buttermarket and St Stephen's Lane,
Ipswich,
IP1 1DT
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Related Websites
Omniplex Cinemas (Official)
Additional Info
Operated by: Omniplex Cinemas
Previously operated by: Empire Cinemas UK
Functions: Movies (First Run)
Previous Names: Empire Cinema Ipswich
Nearby Theaters
The Empire Cinema, Ipswich, opened on Friday 31st March 2017, in the recently renovated Butter Market Shopping Centre. The cinema features 14 screens. The largest screens (Impact: Luxu and Impact: Blue) both feature Dolby Atmos Sound. There are also 2 D-BOX screens (screens 13 and 14). The seating ranges from 293 to 44 seats. Most screens seat around 50 people.
The cinema is only the second cinema in the UK to have all screens equipped with laser projectors. All the screens have luxury seating as standard, but there are also 2 seater sofas (for a small additional charge) and reclining chairs in the 2 largest screens. The Empire Cinemas UK chain went into administration on 6th July 2023. They kept the Ipswich cinema open. On 4th December 2023 the Ireland based Omniplex Cinemas Group took over Empire Cinemas UK and the Ipswich cinema was renamed Omniplex Ipswich.
Contributed by
Paul Arch
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
Unless I’m mistaken IMPACT Luxe at Empire, Ipswich is the largest IMPACT screen within the Empire Cinemas chain at 19.5m x 8.2m (that’s even larger than the old screen 1 at Empire, LSQ which was 18.2m x 7.68m). This coupled with Barco laser projectors and Dolby Atmos sound puts in the flagship cinema category imo.
IMPACT Blue is quite a bit smaller at 12.4m x 6.7m
The impact Luxe is their flagship screen, but although it is atmos equipped the sound is a little tiny as the screen is very much a black box in a building that was originally a clothes store and not designed to house cinema screens. The speakers also seem to not be a high end brand. The projectors are very low and as a result a lot of shadows appear on screen from people moving about.
MovieGeek2013: Thanks for posting your observations on the cinema.
Looking through the virtual tour on Empire Cinemas' site:
The speakers in the IMPACT auditoria are Christie’s Vive brand—LA series surrounds/overheads—line arrays with ribbon tweeters—and S series rear subwoofers.
The rear rows of seats in the IMPACT auditoria are very close to the false ceilings. Would have been better if Empire hadn’t jammed in the last couple of rows of seats?
Looking at the virtual tour of the IMPACT auditoria at Empire Sutton, these also appear to have the same issue? Seems to be a design decision rather than the Ipswich location being built within the shell of a former department store.
Might be worth a visit off-peak to avoid the projection obstruction issue?!
Ticket pricing is good value at this cinema. Mon-Thurs £6.95 and Fri-Sun £7.95. IMPACT in a ‘superior standard’ seat is only £7.95 which is a bargain!
From what I read on the cinema website and from the comments below, I gather: Screen 1 Impact Luxe is a 2.39 Scope screen at 19.5 by 8.2 Screen 2 Impact Blue is a 1.85 Flat screen at 12.4 by 6.7
With the majority of films now filmed in Scope, it seems an extraordinary decision to build one of the major screens as 1.85 Flat requiring Scope films to be letterboxed. This just makes it a glorified TV set.
Any idea whether the other screens are Scope or Flat ?
I felt the same when watching Ready Player One on an Xtreme screen at Vue, Westfield Shepherd’s Bush. A good portion of the height of the screen is lost to letterboxing when watching a movie filmed in scope and almost seems pointless paying the extra for Xtreme over a standard non-Xtreme screen that may have a scope screen and possibly wider image.
PhilipWW: You can have a look at some of the other screens in the virtual tour on Empire Cinemas' site.
Just had a look at the auditorium information page—I see that most of the auditoria are on the small size.
Empire Cinemas also seem to have made a slight error on that page:
“Screen 6: 70 Seats 105 Superior Standard Seats 5 Double Sofas 6 Leather Recliners Wheelchair Spaces x 2”
Spot their mistake! ;–)
I looked at their virtual tour presentation. It confirmed that of the two Impact auditoria Screen 1 has a Scope screen whilst Screen 2 has a Flat screen.
It also showed one of the smaller screens (Screen 8) which has Scope screen with no masking.
The two small D-Box screens (14 seats in each) were also shown. These both had Flat screens. It also showed that the Exit door in both was right next to the screen which hardly seems like a good design, perhaps unavoidable as this was a conversion of an old building. Then with just 14 seats each I don’t much it matters much where the door is.
I called by whilst I was in Ipswich recently. It was a Saturday morning morning and the cinema was closed. The shutters were down and just the ‘Omniplex’ sign above gave any indication that it was a cinema. There was no publicity outside as to which films were showing.
Although the Buttermarket shopping centre is fairly new (10 years perhaps?), it already looks in decline. Some shops were closed and those that were there are not very upmarket. That area of Ipswich is not the best.
So I can understand why Empire found it hard going. I can only presume that the landlord offered Omniplex a much reduced rent to attract them to take over. I suppose there is parking nearby but it was not obvious.
In all, this hardly appears as a location to entice customers to spend the evening out there when there is the rather excellent Cineworld with easy parking not far away.
Inside the cinema may or may not be great, I have no idea, but from the outside it does not look good.
I wish Omniplex well but have my doubts as to whether the cinema has a long term futuree
@PhillipWw the cinema is open, but the main entrance is closed due to an issue with the windows above (one has smashed) and so you have to enter via another door upstairs. You are correct that they do not do any advertising for what they are showing externally. It really is one of the most boring entrances to a cinema I have seen.