52 years after the Empire Leicester Square Screen 1 became a 1330 seat cinema it is closing its doors for the final time and being converted into several screens. Which will leave only the Odeon Leicester Square being the only cinema with over 1,000 seats and with the capacity to hold major premieres in London.
The owners of the Empire will say that the reason why they are converting the Empire 1 screen into several screens is because it rarely sold out performances but when your charging up to £20 a seat to see a film its no wonder.
It has always puzzled me why exhibitors raise ticket prices so high as its the concessionary sales of popcorn and soft drinks which is where cinemas really make their money. If a cinema was to charge £10 a seat they are more likely to sell more seats and more ticket sales would increase the concessionary sales.
With Digital projection standard in almost all cinemas across the UK and with 4K projection in many there is no as huge a difference in watching a film in Leicester Square as in a local cinema so it is no wonder that cinemas in Leicester Square aren’t selling as much as they used to.
When you go to see a film in Leicester Square you used to have a higher quality of presentation with projectionists looking after single screens compared with a projectionist looking after all the screens in a multiplex. (This used to be the case when cinemas screened films on film nowadays staffing levels have dropped off even more with box office assistants also being taught to screen films. Which is fine when the equipment works but when faults occur they have no idea how to fix them.)
When I go to see films in Leicester Square you go there as you expect to see and hear films as the director wanted on the biggest screens and with the best surround sound. Which is the case when you see films at the Odeon and up till tonight at the Empire #.
Once the Empire #1 is converted into several screens it will be no different than any other multiplex cinema conversion across the country the unique character and appeal of the Empire #1 will be turned into the same box like cinemas which have become the norm across the UK. Why would anyone choose to go to see a film at the new Empire Leicester Square paying £20 to see films in a small cinema which they could do at cinemas more local to them.
If Empire Cinemas have been allowed to converted their #1 into several screens it won’t be long until Odeon convert their Leicester Square cinema into several screens which they have been wanting to do for a very long time. There has also been the plans to develop the Odeon West End location into hotels, flats, restaurants and two much smaller cinemas. (they are currently 832 & 500 seats the new cinemas would be half as big 440 & 200 seats. Planning permission was given to this project in 2008.