Home London Theatre & Cinema Notable London Cinemas

The BFI IMAX

(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
The BFI (British Film Institute - based at the nearby South Bank complex) IMAX was completed in May 1999. It contains the largest  cinema screen in Britain (20m high and 26m wide) it a seating capacity of just under 500, with a 12,000 Watt digital surround sound system.BFI IMAX: 3D cinema offeris some innovative film programmes.

Although the site is surrounded by traffic and has an underground line just four metres below, the architects and engineers accounted for this in their design and the entire upper structure sits on anti vibration bearings to prevent noise transference.

As well as showing general releases, the programme also includes opera and ballet adaptations such as Zeffirelli's production of "Turandot" and other high-brow fare such as Richard Eyre's production of Bizet's "Carmen".
 

The Greenwich Picturehouse

The Greenwich Picturehouse opened in September 2005 as a luxury four screen cinema with a panoramic first-floor bar and a basement Screening Room that offers a mix of films, music and comedy events.Greenwich Picture House: modern, stylish with excellent facilities (including screening rooms).

Also in the cinema is the Organic Tapas Company, serving a range of small dishes of fresh organic food from Spain, France, Italy and far beyond.

Part of the Picturehouse Group, which differs from most commercial chains by promotional activities that aim to encourage an interest in film, including membership schemes, printed programmes with comparatively in-depth background information about films, film festivals and themed series of showings. The cinemas are generally small and centrally located compared to others recently opened in the UK, which are often large multiplex cinemas built on the edges of towns.
 

The Prince Charles Cinema - PCC

The Prince Charles Cinema (PCC) is one of this reviewer's favourite cinemas in London (and Tarantino's apparently). Just off Leicester Square in a back-street leading to Chinatown. They've been offering cut price cinema tickets in the capital since 1991.Prince Charles Cinema: the cheapest shows in London AND right in the centre.

The Prince Charles offers a rotating program of cult, arthouse, and classic films alongside the recent Hollywood releases. It also hosts the sing-a-long version of The Sound of Music, which has been shown on a regular basis for over five years. The cinema has achieved a cult status amongst fans, sticking out as the only independent cinema in the West End. It recently added a second screen, so there is an 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' programme of events.

Membership costs £12 and gives reduced entry to all showings (generally £2-3). The downstairs programmes are cheaper and include old favourites ("Withnail and I" is on at the time of writing and a John Hughes double-bill - "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" and "Ferris Beuller's Day Off", which would be a typical programme). It's invaluable if you missed the opportunity to see an original release at the cinema. With membership, matinee entry is £1.50 downstairs and £4 without membership. Double bill entry is higher.

 

The Coronet - Notting Hill

The Notting Hill Coronet is a cinema, originally built as a theatre, in Notting Hill Gate in London, England.

The Coronet was designed as a theatre by leading architect W. G. R. Sprague Coronet: view from the restored circle.(this man has his fingerprnts all over the West End) and opened in 1898. Famous actors who appeared at the theatre in its early days included Ellen Terry and Sarah Bernhardt. Sir John Gielgud saw his first Shakespeare play here. It suffered, however, from being outside the traditional London theatrical district of the West End, whilst being sufficiently close to that district (unlike other provincial theatres) to find itself in competition with it.

In 1923, it became a cinema full time, but it retained, as it still does, its original theatre interior, consisting of stalls and two upper tiers (a dress circle and a gallery). However, the boxes at each side of the auditorium, next to the stage, were removed in 1931.

 

The Riverside Studios - Hammersmith

As well as being one of the historic homes of the BBC and Triumph Films, the Studios became famous throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s for bringing some of the most exciting theatre and performance work to the UK from overseas.Riverside Studios: the only cinema still offering double bills.

The cinema here uniquely offers a repertory double bills programme, focusing on the very best of international and contemporary cinema, providing access to films that are often rarely screened. Double bills were usually the norm in British cinemas right through to the 1980s ('Gregory's Girl' and 'Chariots of Fire' springs to mind as one of the last offerings).

 
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