What’s next for London’s cinemas?

Remember that tingle of anticipation as the lights go down and a movie flickers into life on the big screen? The way watching a trailer on the big screen can make literally any film seem like essential viewing (‘Shit, there’s a “Peter Rabbit 2”?!’). The gathering drone of the Dolby Atmos logo. Me too. Even the rustle of popcorn as the bloke behind you crams a fistful into his gob has taken on a mythic quality. The collective joy of watching something on a cinema screen has been gone far, far too long.

Joyously, the wait will be over on Monday May 17. Reopening on that day will be BFI Southbank, the cult-alicious Prince Charles, Selfridges Cinema, the Archlight in Battersea, art deco temple the Rio in Dalston, Kensal Rise’s local hero the Lexi, the Genesis in Mile End, South Kensington’s fabulously French Ciné Lumière, East Finchley’s grand old Phoenix, the Barbican Cinema, all of London’s Everyman Cinemas, and – if rumours are to be believed – the city’s Picturehouses, too. 

A day later, Curzon’s screens in Soho, Aldgate, Victoria and Bloomsbury will be joining them, with Homerton’s very lovely The Castle Cinema following suit. It soft-launches on May 17 before returning with a full schedule four days later, the day Shoreditch’s Rich Mix also reopens. Odeon and Vue will both reopen their cinemas on May 17, too. 

Even the rustle of popcorn has taken on a mythic quality

Not every cinema will be back straight away. Brentford’s Watermans is also back in action in late May, Regent Street Cinema will be back on June 25 and the ICA has July 6 earmarked. Aside from Cineworld (late May), the major chains – and bigger indies like south-east London favourite Peckhamplex – haven’t yet announced their reopening dates. But expect the city’s multiplexes to be back to something like normal when ‘A Quiet Place II’ and ‘In the Heights’ (June) and ‘Black Widow’ (July) have all landed.

Not that there isn’t plenty to dig into in May, including freshly-crowned Best Picture ‘Nomadland’ and ‘Sound of Metal’, both of which arrive with armfuls of awards, plus  ‘Rare Beasts’ and much-lauded moo-sterpiece ‘First Cow’.

When you get to the cinema, you may notice that your seat is a little comfier, the image a bit sharper and the snacks kiosk a touch more bougie. BFI Southbank’s palatial NFT1 has a new screen, 4k laser projector and booming new sound system. The Lexi, which was hit by a fire in October, returns with a second screen. Barbican has ripped out its old seats and replaced them with comfy new ones.

London’s cinemas are not out of the woods yet but their resilience is seriously heartening.

London’s cinemas are not out of the woods yet – far from it – but their resilience is seriously heartening. The government’s Culture Recovery Fund, administered by the BFI, has helped, as has the support of regulars. There’s even a handful of new London cinemas on the way. Curzon has two – Hoxton opening June 4 and Camden later in 2021 – and Picturehouse Finsbury Park is coming soon too. Excitingly, currently cinema-less Acton is getting a pop-up that will eventually become a two-screen picture palace, run with some help from the Rio. And word is that Kentish Town will finally have a one-screen cinema to call its own in 2022.

The big question, of course, is will people return? The runes says yes. Research by industry body Cinema First had 59 percent of respondents listing cinemagoing as their ‘most missed out-of-home entertainment activity’. My guess – and I have not done any polls – is that cinema’s allure is not only undiminished at the end of lockdown, it’s greater than ever. Who hasn’t missed that unique magic of being cocooned in the dark, alone but together? Cinemas are a departure gate to somewhere new, ready to transport us from the stuck-at-home-sitting-in-our-pants drudgery of the past year. For pity’s sake, though, switch your phone to flight mode. All this goodwill isn’t going to last for ever.