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Rip Screen 1 the savoy

tony stark

Rang today to book Star Wars. They said they were closing screen one for renovations in December. That implies they're splitting it. Feeling super super sad about it. So many memories and for me hands down the greatest screen in Dublin. The ushers of the original savoy were great. It really feels like another piece of Dublins history has been eroded. It always felt like a real cinema experience. Thankfully saw blade runner there. That'll be my last there. Looks like the empire has won this one!

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AMKC

CinemaGuy45 wrote: »

Cineworld feels run down not as bad as the Savoy but the crowd that attends it drags it down even more.

Odeon at the Point would be my choice now, not a scope screen but it has a sense of scale and a great sound system.

I agree. I used to love going to Cineworld and the cinema that was there before it but I never go there now. Have not been in years. The only way I will ever go back is if its done up, staff trained to care and keep the place good and prices lowered.

I agree Odeon at the Point is nice but they have not been as good this year with offers and there schedule has not been the best this year.

CinemaGuy45

I might give the Lighthouse a try if I can avoid all the junkies at that Luas stop.:D

alzer100

As I have said before, I do not have a problem with anyone attending the new screens at the Savoy but I would urge anyone who may be thinking of doing so to read this forum, look at the recent photos uploaded by CinemaGuy45 and make an informed decision.
What has happened at the Savoy is a disgrace. IMC knew that the removal of Screen 1 was a bad PR move, hence no promotion and no media coverage. The only photos of the new screen 1 come from the website of an electrical contractor so what does that tell you? I only hope that the majority of the public, former and potential patrons do not attend the new screens and in their way say NO! to IMC.
I do understand that it is a business but I for sure know that I do not need to be involved in the cinema industry to realize that there were many other options with regards to increasing revenue for Screen 1.
A petition was generated just before construction work was commenced with over 2000 online signatures within an extremely short period of time and it was ignored by Paul Ward. Not only that but he also pledged on two occasions to the media that the screen or it's size would not be changed. Either the guy is a liar or he thinks his customers are stupid.
IMC stink of arrogance and it is quite apparent that they do not listen to their customers, so for the person who maybe visiting this forum for the first time and wondering should I pay a visit to the new screens at the Savoy? Ask yourself this question: Do the owners of that cinema deserve your custom?

gmisk

CinemaGuy45 wrote: »

I might give the Lighthouse a try if I can avoid all the junkies at that Luas stop.:D

That luas stop isnt the worst.....try abbey street....

Lighthouse is my usual spot for films.
I do sometimes go to the point as well, usually really quiet which I like.

I do go to the Savoy the odd time as its handy and they fo 2 for 10 euro tickets sunday to thursday with three...I havent been in any of the new screens.... but they look pretty tiny

AMKC

gmisk wrote: »

That luas stop isnt the worst.....try abbey street....

Lighthouse is my usual spot for films.
I do sometimes go to the point as well, usually really quiet which I like.

I do go to the Savoy the odd time as its handy and they fo 2 for 10 euro tickets sunday to thursday with three...I havent been in any of the new screens.... but they look pretty tiny

I do sometimes go to the point as well, usually really quiet which I like.

Same here. Am dreading when all the students move in to the new apartments up there.

CinemaGuy45

Just to mention off to either side of the new Savoy One there are screens eleven and twelve.

This is screen Twelve.

You are seeing all the seats in this image.

James 007

CinemaGuy45 wrote: »

Just to mention off to either side of the new Savoy One there are screens eleven and twelve.

This is screen Twelve.

You are seeing all the seats in this image.

Yes, and just to let you know the currently advertised 'Screen 1' is probably 3-4 times only the size of 'Screen 12'. I watched First Man over the weekend gone, firstly couldnt find the Screen as it didnt appear to be labelled. Please tell me that I went to the wrong Screen to see the movie.

alzer100

James 007 wrote: »

CinemaGuy45 wrote: »

Just to mention off to either side of the new Savoy One there are screens eleven and twelve.

This is screen Twelve.

You are seeing all the seats in this image.

Yes, and just to let you know the currently advertised 'Screen 1' is probably 3-4 times only the size of 'Screen 12'. I watched First Man over the weekend gone, firstly couldnt find the Screen as it didnt appear to be labelled. Please tell me that I went to the wrong Screen to see the movie.

Unfortunately you did go to the correct screen. The Savoy Screen 1 that we all knew is no more.
After 4 months since the new screens have opened, I can see why IMC have not released any official interior photos. This is not what a cinema experience is supposed to be and I find it upsetting. Does anyone seriously believe that this is an improvement?
I really have a concern for the future of the Savoy. I do not know if they are increasing or even maintaining numbers as I no longer attend. I know people who were patrons of Savoy Screen 1 (myself included) who now choose Odeon Screen 1 at the Point. Looking at those photos it does not appear many were in attendance, even if it's only Screen 12.
What is really sad, I get the feeling that IMC would rather close the cinema than to return Screen 1 back to it's original state. So will the Savoy be around in another 2-5 years?

James 007

alzer100 wrote: »

Unfortunately you did go to the correct screen. The Savoy Screen 1 that we all knew is no more.
After 4 months since the new screens have opened, I can see why IMC have not released any official interior photos. This is not what a cinema experience is supposed to be and I find it upsetting. Does anyone seriously believe that this is an improvement?
I really have a concern for the future of the Savoy. I do not know if they are increasing or even maintaining numbers as I no longer attend. I know people who were patrons of Savoy Screen 1 (myself included) who now choose Odeon Screen 1 at the Point. Looking at those photos it does not appear many were in attendance, even if it's only Screen 12.
What is really sad, I get the feeling that IMC would rather close the cinema than to return Screen 1 back to it's original state. So will the Savoy be around in another 2-5 years?

Thanks, this is very disappointing. So what are the capacities to all the new screens. Is this 'Screen 1' the largest of all the screens. I feel totally let down & robbed by not getting a cinema experience. It felt like watching a movie in someones house.

alzer100

James 007 wrote: »

alzer100 wrote: »

Unfortunately you did go to the correct screen. The Savoy Screen 1 that we all knew is no more.
After 4 months since the new screens have opened, I can see why IMC have not released any official interior photos. This is not what a cinema experience is supposed to be and I find it upsetting. Does anyone seriously believe that this is an improvement?
I really have a concern for the future of the Savoy. I do not know if they are increasing or even maintaining numbers as I no longer attend. I know people who were patrons of Savoy Screen 1 (myself included) who now choose Odeon Screen 1 at the Point. Looking at those photos it does not appear many were in attendance, even if it's only Screen 12.
What is really sad, I get the feeling that IMC would rather close the cinema than to return Screen 1 back to it's original state. So will the Savoy be around in another 2-5 years?

Thanks, this is very disappointing. So what are the capacities to all the new screens. Is this 'Screen 1' the largest of all the screens. I feel totally let down & robbed by not getting a cinema experience. It felt like watching a movie in someones house.

That, I don't know. The new Screen 1 seats about 100. Screens 11 & 12 seat, well you can actually count the seats just by looking at the photo (Screen 11 is a mirror image of Screen 12). I think Screens 9 & 10 seat more than Screens 11 & 12 but Screen 1 probably has the most seating capacity and since it can only seat about 100 that is not saying much.

IMC seem to have a different business model for the Savoy now and with that said, a different target audience. I don't think that they hold premieres there anymore either.

CinemaGuy45

James 007 wrote: »

Thanks, this is very disappointing. So what are the capacities to all the new screens? Is this 'Screen 1' the largest of all the screens. I feel totally let down & robbed by not getting a cinema experience. It felt like watching a movie in someone's house.

Screen One holds about 100 maybe fewer screens Nine and Ten hold about the same maybe a few more due to wider back rows but the ceilings are much lower so the screens are much smaller than Screen One.

Screens Eleven and Twelve only have 28 seats each and are tiny.

So from a room that had 760 seats, we now have five rooms that hold about 360 to 380 between them.

Passageways for emergency exits the new corridor the new walls and much lower ceilings to house the new wiring mean the new five rooms combined hold less than half of what the old room held.

My first post when I joined this site was about my experience in the new Screen One but in all honesty I do not wish to visit again.

The Savoy is dead.

James 007

Yes wont be going back, brought someone who is not from the country there, very much left me embarrassed. What a joke. Id hazard a guess at 100 max alright as i tried to count them when the lights were on, but my mind was in three places at the time thinking i was at the wrong screen location and thinking back to all the good experiences i had there.

alzer100

What was the venue for movie premieres is now an embarrassment
I still advocate non attendance as it maybe the only way that IMC will take some corrective action as these guys only see profit as a driving factor
I would not like to see any of the staff there lose their jobs but sometimes I wonder if it was better if they had just closed the cinema as they have really made a mess of it.

Sad Professor

It would have to be a very big boycott to have any effect on their profits. They now have four extra screens because of this change. They've probably quadrupled their revenue.

AMKC

James 007 wrote: »

Yes, and just to let you know the currently advertised 'Screen 1' is probably 3-4 times only the size of 'Screen 12'. I watched First Man over the weekend gone, firstly couldnt find the Screen as it didnt appear to be labelled. Please tell me that I went to the wrong Screen to see the movie.

You went to the wrong screen to see the movie. You should have went to screen 17 aka THE IMAX in Cineworld to get the best experience. That's where I went to see First Man and felt like I was actually there in the capsule with Neil and Aldrin.

Mebuntu

Think about it. The modern generation watches movies on their phones often in small back bedrooms!

Watching movies on this Mega Savoy screen 12 must be a stunning out-of-this-World experience for them and the sound must also be blowing them away. They'll probably be going back for more but I certainly won't be joining them.

TheIrishGrover

That is a disappointment. I mean it has been some time since I've been to the cinema there but I used to go regularly with a group of friends. Typically to the bigger, blockbuster movies. Y'know, something that had to have been seen on the biggest screen. I even met Quentin Tarantino there at a Q n' A and in a pub afterwards (Where he continued to expand on the answer he gave to my question to him at the Q n' A).

I find it an odd decision. Sure, by dividing it up into smaller screens you can show more movies but people didn't go to the Savoy for the movie selection. They went there to find the biggest a$$ screen they could find in the city centre. I mean you have cineworld around the corner.

Obviously it was a financial decision but I believe it is a mistake. All one can do is to voice their disappointment by going elsewhere. So long Savoy 1, we'll miss you.

CinemaGuy45 wrote: »

Just to mention off to either side of the new Savoy One there are screens eleven and twelve.

This is screen Twelve.

You are seeing all the seats in this image.

Jesus.... I'm not usually claustrophobic but that pic almost gave me a panic attack

alzer100

Exactly, by going elsewhere to highlight your disappointment is the best form of action. I believe a situation exists where people are attending the Savoy and then coming out shocked and disappointed and I mean not just from the film!.

Every now and then this forum becomes dormant and then someone attends the Savoy and then afterwards they feel so strongly about their experience that they post their reaction and then of course we all give our opinions.
I would also suggest that a lot of people who have gone there to see a movie (whether or not they decide to share their experience on this forum) are not returning and I believe sooner or later this will have an effect.

I would urge anyone to share their thoughts on the replacement screens good or bad. I for one, would not be interested in attacking anyone if they had a positive review of them. However, I do think that the majority of reviews will be negative and IMC are aware of this, hence no official photos or promotion. I would also urge people when leaving the cinema and if they have had a negative experience to ask the staff at the Savoy regarding how they can express their dissappointment to the owners.

Money talks especially with IMC, they lose customers - they lose money.

CinemaGuy45

alzer100 wrote: »

I would urge anyone to share their thoughts on the replacement screens good or bad. I for one, would not be interested in attacking anyone if they had a positive review of them. However, I do think that the majority of reviews will be negative and IMC are aware of this, hence no official photos or promotion. I would also urge people when leaving the cinema and if they have had a negative experience to ask the staff at the Savoy regarding how they can express their dissappointment to the owners.

Money talks especially with IMC, they lose customers - they lose money.

The bolded bit of your post really makes the point.
The new screens are modern the seats are really comfy the picture is good and the sound is also really good no Dolby Atmos but good Dolby Digital.

I can sit at home in a really comfy seat with 4K picture with Dolby Digital sound and I also have the remote.

The Old Savoy One was an experience drapes 70-foot screen and sense of wonder scale and awe the home experience just did not compare.

For a movie, I really want to see I would pay € 30 for a super comfy seat looking at a 70-foot screen with a few beers or glasses of wine in the middle of Dolby Atmos sound.

Throw in some really nice food and I would be totally sold.

That is a night out why on earth would anybody travel in from the suburbs with all the multiplexes to view a movie on any of the small screens in the Savoy with rotten popcorn and underwhelming atmosphere?

Shred

I'm as sad as anyone about the breakup of screen 1 and the pictures above do make me a little angry. But I think back to the last 5 movies I saw there (The Force Awakens x2, The Revenant, Bladerunner 2049 and Thor Ragnarok) and on each occassion the room was less than 50% full. The most was for TFA (a Saturday mid afternoon showing), the other three had less than 200 in attendance (some significantly so).
I also booked for myself and the lads to go see Rogue One in Screen 2 having seen TFA for the first time there the year before (on both occassions the screen 1 time didn't suit) and we arrived to find it had already been split into smaller screens without any notice; even in the smaller screen it was about 50% full. So, from my experience, the cinema already appeared to be dying and I won't be surprised if that trend continues with the subpar screens now in place. It's such a shame as I've got so many memories from seeing so many movies there over the years.

Sad Professor

The Savoy has a long history of sub-divisions going back to the 60s. Nearly every other screen in there was originally part of a larger screen. Bar the state stepping in to preserve it, a further splitting up of Savoy 1 always going to happen. A screening room that size isn't practical anymore. They couldn't fill it even for premieres and festival galas when they were handing out free tickets. And as I've said before, at least a third of the seats offered a subpar experience which it was difficult to expect people to pay for. The nostalgia of the place quickly evaporated once you realised that a third of the screen was being blocked by the head of the person in front of you.

alzer100

I do accept that the seating layout of the original auditorium was not up to modern cinema standards or expectations and there were "sweet spots" where every one wanted to be and this was mostly in the central seating area leaving the outer seating areas mostly empty. However, that could of been addressed by an overhaul of the auditorium and the installation of staduium style seating. This would probably have meant entering the auditorium at the front (screen side) and then walking up a steeper set of steps to your seat. There was enough space from floor to ceiling to accomodate this.

This is only a suggestion so please do not scold me for it, but two small width low level perimeter corridors on each side could of been installed to lead from the foyer to the front of the auditorium which would have taken out some of the unused seating. Of course this would reduce capacity but it would have also addressed a reduction in patrons as there has been a natural fall in numbers for EVERY cinema especially in the city centre. That combined with the the biggest scope screen in the country and the latest Dolby Atmos sound system could of offered a premium experience which they could have charged for. I believe there is a market for this especially in this city to offer an alternative to the standard multiplex. I for one would gladly pay a premium price for a premium experience.

IMC may have addressed the issue of non used seating in Screen 1 auditoruim but they have done it by installing extra screens thereby destroying the auditorium's characteristics. Even the auditorium in the new Screen 1 has a hideous shape which is very uncharacteristic for that cinema. I went there in June of this year when it had just opened, purely out of curiosity. I sat at the back row which I think consists of two to three seats, looked around and thought "Oh my God, what have they done?" They did not even retain the original screen which they have been bold enough to advertise on their Facebook page that the new screen is "bigger than before". For me the new Screen 1 auditorium even has a claustrophobic feel to it, there is no sence of scale. I did not remain for the movie, I immediately left. A week later I attended Screen 1 Odeon at the point and thought even though this is a multiplex it feels more like a cinema than the Savoy is now.

IMC may increase revenue for the Savoy with the extra screens for now, but how long will it be before the public catch on to the fact that the screens there are just substandard?

I am hoping (probably in vain) that someday, the person/people in IMC who made this decision will wake up.

Grandeeod

I know there are economics involved in this decision and a big dollop of very poor marketing of a city centre facility that had such wonderful potential. For the record I was just as devastated when the Adelphi cinema closed. It's screen one was absolutely brilliant. The entrance to it was via a double staircase right through the middle of the auditorium leading to a central walk way with the seating either side of it. Raked seating in front of you as you entered, but a near enough stadium style behind you. Curtains et al. I don't think it survived long enough (closed in '95) to be really appreciated. As a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s it was up there as the greatest cinema experience you could have. Savoy 1 and Adelphi 1 are my ultimate cinema memories. Savoy 2 was next in line.

Of course my Dad reminds me about the Savoy and Adelphi being massive single screens with seating in the thousands. The Savoy 1 was the last link to my cinematic childhood. Thankfully I got the chance to bring my young daughter to it just once for the force awakens a few years back. Jammed to the rafters like my old days and sitting right in the middle.:D

RIP to Savoy 1 and Adelphi 1.

alzer100

I used to attend the Adelphi Screen 1 untill it closed in 1995. Another behometh cinema auditorium laid to waste. Showing my age now but can remember going to see some classic movies there as they were originally released: Star Wars (1977), Superman (1978), The Indiana Jones trilogies (1981, 1984 & 1989), ET (1982), Batman (1989), Die Hard 2 (1990), Jurassic Park (1993), Schindlers List and True Lies (1994), Apollo 13 (1995) and I think my last visit was in the summer of '95 to see the abysmal Batman Forever. So sad to walk by it now and to see it function as a cold multi story car park.

Although I also attended the Savoy Screen 1 during the same period and can even remember queing to see Ghostbusters on Friday morning December 8th 1984, I became a true loyal patron post the Adelphi closedown.
It is really sad that the city centre has no REAL theatrical cinema anymore. I find that the cinema experience in Dublin just does not produce that WOW factor anymore. The Adelphi and Savoy main screens (in their glory days) produced not just a cinematic but a threatrical experience that in my opinion the current offerings just cannot touch.

The last great auditorium (Savoy Screen 1) has been destroyed and what is really sad is that there was such great potential to improve it and it has been wasted. I have been to some of the cinemas in London's Leicester Square and The Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard and I always thought that the Savoy Screen 1 was superior.

We have gone to having some of the best to the most bland. I still cannot forgive the Ward family for what they have done to the Savoy.

OU812

Interesting article on Irish cinema

http://homepage.tinet.ie/~cinemax/irish_cinema.htm

Technocentral

Screen 5s projection is way off, the image is at an angle terrible looking, why didnt they fix that when they were renovating?

Technocentral

Is Screen 3 tiny, might go to First Man there later, seen it already but might go again?

alzer100

Technocentral wrote: »

Is Screen 3 tiny, might go to First Man there later, seen it already but might go again?

Can you remember the old Screen 2? If yes, think of that auditorium being subdivided into three parts. The original Screen 2 auditorium was not that big in the first instance, although it did have a screen that was nearly the size of the old Screen 1. The Savoy is not about the big screen experience anymore, I would think that nearly all of it's screens/auditoriums are a let down. I would strongly advise you to go elsewhere.

Technocentral

alzer100 wrote: »

Technocentral wrote: »

Is Screen 3 tiny, might go to First Man there later, seen it already but might go again?

Can you remember the old Screen 2? If yes, think of that auditorium being subdivided into three parts. The original Screen 2 auditorium was not that big in the first instance, although it did have a screen that was nearly the size of the old Screen 1. The Savoy is not about the big screen experience anymore, I would think that nearly all of it's screens/auditoriums are a let down. I would strongly advise you to go elsewhere.

There's nowhere else in CC unfortunately.