New Deluxe Seats at UCI

monkeyfudge

I went to see Superman Returns at my local UCI in Coolock last night. It's been in a bit of a state for the past month or so as they're completely doing the whole place up... but it finally seems to be coming together and they have these new deluxe seats.

They cost €10 each and they comprise the back 3 rows. They're better elevated, so a person sitting in front of you won't block your view, they have a bit more leg room and possibly best they are that little bit wider, so fat bastards everywhere rejoice...

My only wish is that they don't sell these seats to children... as I was stuck with a family to my left with a really annoying kid who wouldn't shut up and another one behind me... Whenever Superman wasn't on screen (And even sometimes when he was for some reason) the kids would repeatedly ask 'Where's Superman? Where's Superman?' And if you've seen the film you'll know that Superman has a relatively small amount of screen time, so the question is indelibly imprinted into my brain.

Does anyone know if UCI has made the change to digital projection yet? I was very impressed with the sharpness of the the picture last night.

Rhyme

Excellent... must take a ganders at them. The only beef i have with seats are in some of the screens the drink holders are on the ground in front of you... i always knock crap over with them.

Zapp Brannigan

They better do this in UCI Blanch. The seats there are atrocious! Wouldnt mind paying extra for the comfort factor!

GrumPy

I thought the new, non-fancy seats in UCI Coolock sucked ass :mad: really uncomfortable!


Went last Sunday, and my back was fecked when the movie was over.

ciaran76

Slurms wrote:

They better do this in UCI Blanch. The seats there are atrocious! Wouldnt mind paying extra for the comfort factor!

They have done Blanch too.

madrab

i think those "delux" seat are a rip off, its bad enough the price you pay for a ticket at the moment

monkeyfudge

Yep... I was expecting them to be like La-z-boys or something... but the're really fairly standard seats.

If you're a particualarly wide person they could be a blessing though.

Dinh_Gunslinger

The only reason UCI (Odeon) has done this "revamp" is because there is a new cinema opening in the Pavillions, Swords this October. I used to work for UCI and still have friends there. They have been promising for about 5-6 years to do this overhaul and only now, when they are under threat, have they bothered to get the finger out! Swords will also have one WHOLE screen which will have the same type of VIP seating and service the Movies@Dundrum currently provide. UCI (Odeon) know this so they are doing whatever they can, with the limited resources, to compete.

A survey showed that Coolock's customer base was made up of a majority of people from Swords, Portmarnock & Malahide. So think they know they are going to be f**ked in the ass if the don't do something to attract more customers soon.

I still believe that UCI (Odeon) Coolock is possibly one of the worst run cinemas I have ever worked in and it won't be long before they are losing customers hand over fist because of the new cinema in Swords.

As far as digital projection goes, I don't think they have switched over yet but insider knowledge tells me that Swords will have at least 50% of it's screens fitted with digital projectors. All cinemas a dying to switch over to digital but the only thing holding them all back is the extreme lack of supply of digital movies. Not all new movies are available in digital format in Ireland due to the strict copyright laws and there are only 2 companies that actually provide the service to cinemas so don't expect all cinemas to be equipped for a few years yet. It's not just as simple putting on a dvd, the movies come in 90GB uncompressed files and have to be installed on each projector by a qualified technician...politics is a bitch.

Also, just to point out, I don't work for Movies@ (as has been accused before). I work in the Irish cinema industry, I won't mention for who and what I do, and I get a lot of information regarding each cinema and it's goings on and from the way things look UCI (Odeon) is on a slippery slope to being muscled out by new and fresh competition.

monkeyfudge

Well it looks like the revamp is going to be a big improvement. It seems like a much nicer design with less wasted space... of course it's still all covered in plaster and loose wires so I'll reserve judgement until it's finished.

I've only recently started going back to the Coolock UCI actually. It's about a 15 minute walk from my house, so it's very convienent, but it was just so full of total f*ckwits that it made watching a film impossible. So I started heading into town to Cineworld and the Savoy... but now they've gone terrible too. So recently I found that the UCI is actually pretty nice on a quiet weekday evening and I can watch a film in peace.

Those kids the other night were the only problem I've had there in a long time... but I did go on a Saturday evening... so it was to be expected.