Empire (cinema)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Empire is a large cinema on the north side of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, a London Borough. It is one of many large cinemas in and adjoining the square which are used for film premières and first runs. The original structure was built in 1884, as a theatre. In common with many of the cinemas that are now on the square, parts of the original structure may still remain, but are hidden by it's modern adaption.
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[edit] History
The Empire opened on April 17, 1884 as a popular music hall and West End variety theatre on Leicester Square in the City of Westminster, as well as a ballet venue. It's capacity was about 2,000 seats.
Edward Solomon and Sydney Grundy premiered their comic opera, Pocahontas or The Great White Pearl, another Solomon opera, Polly or The Pet of the Regiment transferred here, and his Billee Taylor was revived here, all in 1884. Kate Vaughan starred in Around the World in 80 Days at the theatre in 1886. Hervé premiered his Diana (1888) and Cleopatra (1889) at the theatre.
In March 1896, the Empire Theatre played host to an event of cinema history when Auguste and Louis Lumière gave the first theatrical performances of a projected film to a paying UK audience there (although it had previously been seen at the Polytechnic in Regent Street). The film program ran for 18 months. Over the next few years the theatre began to offer a programme of live performances with short film shows.
As the technological wonder of moving pictures grew in popularity in the 1920s, the Empire was acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who demolished the theatre in 1927 (its last live theatre performance was Lady Be Good, starring Fred Astaire) and rebuilt the Empire as a movie theatre, although it still had a stage and often hosted dance performances. The theatre's capacity was increased to about 3,000 seats. In 1952 the Empire featured in Charlie Chaplin's film Limelight. In 1959 the Empire installed new 70mm projectors, enabling it to show epics such as Ben Hur (which ran for 76 weeks).
MGM refurbished the building in 1961. Architect George Coles was commissioned and he built a new entrance and lobby in black and white Italian marble, and redesigned the 1,330 seat auditorium with banks of coloured lights. The theatre re-opened with the Jimmy Durante and Doris Day film Jumbo.
[edit] Today
The Empire 1 screen is the largest, with a seating capacity of 1330 since its last major refurbishment in the mid-1960s. Empire 2 was formerly a separate cinema called The Ritz, located below ground. Since the 1960s refurbishment, the screen has been part of The Empire (although it had a separate entrance until a small refurbishment in the mid-1980s). Empire 3 is a small screen with only a 77-seat capacity. Another screen will be added to The Empire Cinema Leicester Square, Empire 4 will be built in 2007 and will be in place of the existing foyer toilets.
For a period in the early-to-mid 1990s, the Empire 1 was notable for the short sound-and-light show, involving laser projections onto the curtains and walls, that preceded the start of each programme.
In October 2005, the Empire was sold to Empire Cinemas Ltd, along with ten other cinemas around the UK, following instructions from the Office of Fair Trading that Terra Firma Capital Partners divest of 11 cinemas in order that their acquisition of United Cinemas International go ahead.
On 2 April 2006, Irish newspapers reported that all of theatres which were recently acquired by Empire Cinemas will be rebranded under the Empire brand.
In the Summer of 2006, The Empire Leicester Square Screen 1 sound system was completely overhauled, installing a 56000 Watt THX certified sound system. At the same time as this the screen size was expanded by approximately 4 metres
[edit] References
- Empire Theatre at the Arthur Lloyd site
- Feature article on the theatre's history and the opening of the new cinema, with many images
- Book on ballet at the theatre
- Profile of the theatre
