Work stepping up to raise curtain on new cinema

Fitting out of the new cinema is due to start next month as part of a £6m investment on top of the £21m cost of the extension to the council owned Houndshill Shopping Centre, which the development is part of.

The credits rolled at the Odeon on Festival Park, Rigby Road, for the last time earlier this month after the lease came to an end and planning permission was granted for conversion of the building into a leisure hub.

The Backlot Cinema, which will include an immersive Imax screen, is expected to open ahead of the Christmas film season.

Alan Cavill, director of communications and regeneration at Blackpool Council, said work to fit out the new cinema is due to begin in July and will include seating, screens and projection equipment.

John Sullivan, founder of Backlot Cinema said: “We are still on track for a pre-Christmas opening but like all things there may still be slips in the contractor/supply lines and what is being delivered at Backlot is way beyond a standard cinema.

“We are aiming to deliver a venue that will wow any visitors to Blackpool but also have some very special ideas and exclusive offers pitched entirely for residents.

“We see Backlot as becoming a new venue for everyone in the town.”

Fabio Vidotti, well known to many in Blackpool as for many years the manager of The Big Blue & The Boulevard Hotels, has also been recruited to the team.

The Backlot Cinema, which is being built on Tower Street, will boast nine screens in total, 850 luxury seats and the Backlot Diner which will occupy restaurant space in the scheme.

A deal to include an Imax screen in the development was announced in July last year.

Proposals for the Backlot Cinema also include screens for e-sports, film clubs and live theatre streaming as well as showing blockbuster movies.

Blackpool also boasts The Regent independent cinema on Church Street which re-opened in 2016 and shows classic films. It first opened in 1921 and has also been used as a bingo hall.