BFI To Take Over U.K.’s Biggest IMAX Screen From AMC-Owned Odeon Cinemas
BFI IMAX, the largest IMAX screen in the U.K., will cease to be operated and programmed by Odeon Cinemas from this summer. The British Film Institute (BFI), which owns the theater, will resume programming and operations this July.
Odeon took over operations under a 10-year deal term in 2022. It will not be renewed.
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The cinema will close for three days this summer as the change takes place before re-opening on July 22 with “Thor: Love and Thunder.” That will be followed by “Bullet Train,” starring Sandra Bullock and Brad Pitt, and Jordan Peele’s “Nope” in August.
At 65 feet high and 85 feet wide, the BFI IMAX (as the cinema continued to be known during its operation by Odeon), is the U.K.’s largest cinema screen. It features IMAX Digital 4K projection and IMAX 15/70, the large format IMAX GT projection system.
The 500-capacity venue, which opened in 1999, regularly plays host to star-studded screenings and premieres, including the premiere of “The Batman” in February.
The BFI also owns and operates the nearby BFI Southbank. The organization plan to give the IMAX venue a “major re-launch” in fall.
Odeon Cinemas Group, the U.K.-based European subsidiary of AMC Theatres, is Europe’s largest exhibitor with nearly 2,500 screens across the U.K. and Ireland, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, according to a new study from The International Union of Cinemas. It is followed by Cineworld, Vue International and Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont.
The BFI is a philanthropic cultural body and the U.K.’s leading organization dedicated to film and the moving image.
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