So how exactly are cinemas going to reopen?

It doesn't seem to mention them anywhere when booking but I always visit Derry and know all screens have them.
Use the Contact Us option to email any cinema and ask, they got back to me inside an hour last week when I asked when they were going to open again.

From the website :

Why choose OmniplexMAXX?
There are 3 simple reasons to choose OmniplexMAXX; the advanced sound, the biggest screens and the comfiest seats. The OmniplexMAXX screen allows you to immerse yourself in the film, it's an experience you won't forget!
All OmniplexMAXX screens feature our iconic leather rocker seats to provide the ultimate comfort while you are enjoying your film.
Thanks, I'll fire them an email to see what they say.
 
Thanks, I'll fire them an email to see what they say.

Definitely do as they make such an immeasurable difference, the MAXX are worth the extra pound or two for the recliner size, sound and screen :)
 
For anyone who has been to the cinema yet, what separation distance are they using between households?

Are they sticking with 2m or going with 1m+

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Our local with the recliners and MAXX screen is finally opening with 3 limited showings only.
No sign of Inception, which is disappointing, but thankfully no compulsory mask wearing either.
Best schedule I could hope for, work and spine permitting, would be :

The Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring, (Extended Edition)
Running Time 3 hrs 48min on Monday 27th July 2020 at 2pm.

The Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers, (Extended Edition)
Running Time 3 hrs 55min on Tuesday 28th July 2020 at 2pm.

The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King, (Extended Edition)
Running Time 4 hrs 23min on Wednesday 29th July 2020 at 2pm.

Something to look forward to, and can discard Empire Strikes Back at our pitiful bowling alley.
Alright for some :cool:


 
Last edited:
For anyone who has been to the cinema yet, what separation distance are they using between households?

Are they sticking with 2m or going with 1m+

Cheers,

Nigel

Our cinema is just restricting the seat either side of each booking, whether it be one or five in the booking, so just about 1m+.

Alright for some :cool:

Cheers, somehow I only searched for the MAXX screen and never realised they had so many other films on on the other screens :facepalm: must catch The Dark Knight again sometime as well, but still hoping for Inception 👍
 
Last edited:
Our cinema is just restricting the seat either side of each booking, whether it be one or five in the booking, so maybe 1m or less.

What about face masks - are they required?
And how do they ensure that the group of five are from one household?

I suspect I know the answers.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
What about face masks - are they required?
And how do they ensure that the group of five are from one household?

I suspect I know the answers.

Cheers,

Nigel

No mention of face masks in their updated safety precautions list and you can book as many tickets as you want in one go, no names or questions regarding family asked. As you expected probably Nigel.
 
Curzon seem to be experimenting with compulsory mask wearing for some screenings, for what that's worth.
 
No mention of face masks in their updated safety precautions list and you can book as many tickets as you want in one go, no names or questions regarding family asked. As you expected probably Nigel.

Doesn’t surprise me. This is one of the reasons we will be freezing our three Cineworld Unlimited accounts.

I don’t trust the cinema to abide by the current laws, I think they will put income above customer health and safety. If you look at most of the measures the cinemas are introducing they are focussing on the protection of their staff not the customers. It seems odd that the staff need PPE but the customers don’t need anything - can’t help feeling that is because they have a clear duty of care backed with massive fines for their employees.

So groups MUST be from the same household. I suspect the cinemas won’t do anything to check, won’t question when a group looks unlikely, at best they will put a question on the booking form and abdicate that responsibility.

I suspect that they will then sit the next person or group 1m away. Really it should be 2m because the 1m+ law says 2m if at all possible and 2m is possible. The only reason they could give to not use 2m is that they wouldn’t make enough money with that separation, true but that is putting money first, health second.

Okay, so 1m is accepted under the financial viability argument. The law allows that but as 1m plus - which means 1m plus another form of protection - like face masks. So if the cinema wants to use 1m spacing then they have to enforce face masks - but from what I’m hearing they are not.

And after each screening, the seating area needs to be fully cleaned. Cinemas have said increased cleaning but are very vague mostly referring to toilets. Personally I think it is too impractical and too expensive to clean after every screening and they won’t do it. So separation isn’t even a thing because you will be sat in a seat that was occupied by an infected person less than an hour ago.

Personally, I think it is still too risky, especially just to watch old films.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
So groups MUST be from the same household. I suspect the cinemas won’t do anything to check, won’t question when a group looks unlikely, at best they will put a question on the booking form and abdicate that responsibility.

I suspect that they will then sit the next person or group 1m away. Really it should be 2m because the 1m+ law says 2m if at all possible and 2m is possible. The only reason they could give to not use 2m is that they wouldn’t make enough money with that separation, true but that is putting money first, health second.

Okay, so 1m is accepted under the financial viability argument. The law allows that but as 1m plus - which means 1m plus another form of protection - like face masks. So if the cinema wants to use 1m spacing then they have to enforce face masks - but from what I’m hearing they are not.

And after each screening, the seating area needs to be fully cleaned. Cinemas have said increased cleaning but are very vague mostly referring to toilets. Personally I think it is too impractical and too expensive to clean after every screening and they won’t do it. So separation isn’t even a thing because you will be sat in a seat that was occupied by an infected person less than an hour ago.

Personally, I think it is still too risky, especially just to watch old films.

Cheers,

Nigel

There is nothing to say all groups must be from the same household. I book 2 seats or 5 seats and it is all done under my account, no other names are given or required.
Our group sits together and there is 1 recliner between the next group, the recliner being about 1m wide .this I believe is purely for financial reasons as the cinemas are smaller now as the recliners take up more space than a normal chair.
They advise us not to arrive more than 20 mins before the film starts due to more intense cleaning between showings, I'll take that at face value until I see otherwise.
I understand your concerns and reasons for not attending,.
I am willing to give it a try to support my local cinema and will see how it goes.
Face masks are not compulsory over here, at least yet, but would influence my decision to attend as I don't think I could wear one for close to 4 hours, or even 2, but for the right film, I would try.
Hope this helps.
 
There is nothing to say all groups must be from the same household. I book 2 seats or 5 seats and it is all done under my account, no other names are given or required.

Unless I am mistaken, the law. Groups indoors must be of the same household. Unless that has changed recently, maybe two households now, but not clear.

What I do know for sure is this. I am part of a club of eight people that do wargaming and go to the pub, usually once a week each. We are allowed to go to the pub, as long as we all observe the 1m+ rule - we are not allowed to sit next to each other as a group. We can meet up at one of our houses if we sit outside again observing the 1m+ rule. But we are not allowed to meet up inside at all, not even with distancing.

But it does not surprise me that cinemas won’t do anything to control it. Surprised they don’t cover themselves with a tick box though.

And that is the crux of my problem. I don’t particularly (well I do in the grand scheme) care if a group of people from different household want to sit together and risk cross-contamination but I do have an issue with the cinema saying that I must sit 1m from them.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
^ the 6-7 people sitting in the hairdressers I was in the other day weren’t all from the same household !?
As for the face masks thing, it’s simple, the law is irrelevant, no cinema chain or supermarket or wherever is gonna enforce masks, simply don’t have the power or inclination to do it and the government has said the same.
 
^ the 6-7 people sitting in the hairdressers I was in the other day weren’t all from the same household !?
As for the face masks thing, it’s simple, the law is irrelevant, no cinema chain or supermarket or wherever is gonna enforce masks, simply don’t have the power or inclination to do it and the government has said the same.

Were they sat next to each other, shoulder to shoulder?

When I went to the barbers last week the queue was outside on chairs that were a metre apart. Barbers were wearing masks but they didn’t ask us to. Some customers did, some didn’t.

That’s fine if cinemas are separating members of a group but I thought the idea was that they can sit in adjacent seats.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Last edited:
Definitely do as they make such an immeasurable difference, the MAXX are worth the extra pound or two for the recliner size, sound and screen :)
I got a reply from Omniplex this morning
Hi Colin

Thank you for contacting Dundonald Omniplex cinema, my name is James and I'm one of the duty managers here onsite. Our MAXX screen does not feature reclining chairs, nor does any of the other branches up North have reclining chairs. The extra charge is due to a state of the art enhanced screen display and dolby atmos surround sound.

Kind Regards
James
Reading back, I think your referring to the seats that have a bit of a rocking motion to them rather than actual recliners that let you put your feet up? The rocking chairs are comfortable enough but I don't think I could handle sitting in one for 4+ hours at a time, especially given the lack of leg room.
 
I got a reply from Omniplex this morning

Reading back, I think your referring to the seats that have a bit of a rocking motion to them rather than actual recliners that let you put your feet up? The rocking chairs are comfortable enough but I don't think I could handle sitting in one for 4+ hours at a time, especially given the lack of leg room.

Hi, that is unbelievable as I can 100% guarantee the picture below, copied from @SteveAWOL post #104 above, is the recliners we have in every screen in Derry. Your man is talking nonsense, sorry. I will even take my own photo next week when I'm there on Tuesday as couldn't get Monday off work. The rocking chairs are the back breaking ones they have in the bowling alley, and I have only been there once in about 2 years, when that was only place showing a film I wanted to see. I'm stunned someone could reply with that or maybe I'm in another dimension or something. Stay tuned for Tuesday :suicide:
Recliners.jpg
 
Even a Google search for Omniplex recliners brings up :



and plenty more Twitter pages :smashin:

I can find plenty of recline showings in Dundonald, but seemingly not in their MAXX screen. I'm going to give a couple of locations a ring tomorrow and see what they have to say. Unfortunately, Derry just happens to be the one cinema in NI that's too far away for a school night showing :(
 
I can find plenty of recline showings in Dundonald, but seemingly not in their MAXX screen. I'm going to give a couple of locations a ring tomorrow and see what they have to say. Unfortunately, Derry just happens to be the one cinema in NI that's too far away for a school night showing :(

You go to school? 😄
 
I can find plenty of recline showings in Dundonald, but seemingly not in their MAXX screen. I'm going to give a couple of locations a ring tomorrow and see what they have to say. Unfortunately, Derry just happens to be the one cinema in NI that's too far away for a school night showing :(

The screen we were in at Dundonald wasn't the MAXX but I'm surprised they aren't fitted as standard. You can lie nearly horizontal on them and I have dozed off a couple of times :blush: I just class them as standard now, and with free parking, it makes it a great experience at Derry.
 
with free parking, it makes it a great experience at Derry.

You know, I'm sure cinemas aren't aware how much and how massive free parking is an attraction to going to them is and a customer spending spending their hard earned only on the picture and not the car park.
 
Last edited:
Nothing yet on my Cineworld website about times or movies.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom