PrintShare
At the preview in September, visitors were able to test how comfortable the cinema seats were. neuroth © Florian Neuroth
First review of the new Kinopolis Center / opulence and more events
BAD HOMBURG – Opulent, spacious, extraordinary – that’s what you want from a cinema. A screen on which Napoleon’s troops are spread out in front of you, so that you have to turn your head from right to left in order to see the entire army and the landscape. A sound that beams you directly into the concert hall of the Metropolitan Opera (MET) – or into the recording studio of the 80s band Milli Vanilli, depending on your taste.
More than 70,000 film fans have tried out the conditions in the new Kinopolis at Bad Homburg train station since it opened at the beginning of September. “This exceeded our visitor expectations,” explains cinema manager Pascal Maiwald, when asked about an initial interim assessment since the opening.
The entrance situation – and the view – make a lot of difference. “You can see the astonishment of the guests when they come up the stairs into the foyer,” says Maiwald. If you stand in front of the building, you first have to look for the narrow entrance next to the supermarket portals. But inside, the opulent golden hanging lamps in the 1920s style immediately catch the eye.
When you arrive in the foyer on the first floor, the present catches up with you again: machines where you can order tickets and snacks, which you can pick up shortly afterwards at the popcorn counter. “Most guests book their tickets online from home,” says the cinema manager. If you want, you can also order a classic glass of wine at the neighboring bar and sit on the sofas and armchairs until the film starts – with a wide view of the hustle and bustle of the station forecourt, including the historic buildings and glittering lights.
Whoever has the most expensive tickets for the back seats can order drinks from the cinema at their seat. Guests are still cautious about this premium offer. Maiwald reports that many visitors expressed their enthusiasm – including about this new restaurant. “There are always groups coming here who just have a drink. There is nothing comparable to this ambience.” As long as the planned “rooftop bar” at the top of the building is empty because no tenant can be found, the cinema can score points with its catered foyer, because all guests like a view.
Not the pure blockbuster audience
As is typical for cinemas, the film palace gets particularly crowded on Friday and Saturday evenings. And on Sundays during the day when the families come. There are a number of films that are intended for all age groups – preferably with a lot of action. For particularly moving events such as car races, you can book special “D-Box chairs” that move to match the film. “The children’s films are well received,” the cinema manager found out. Just before Christmas, five or six of the seven halls were decorated with material for the youngest children. Kindergarten groups also come to see “Petterson” or high school classes come to see the classic in the original English version. “Napoleon” filled the halls in the evenings last week, while in the afternoons or Sunday mornings there were also experiments, for example with art house films or classics with Senta Berger. “We are working towards what the guests in Bad Homburg want,” says Maiwald, also with a view to 2024.
Bad Homburg is not the “pure blockbuster audience,” he sums up with a view to films that attract the masses. Nevertheless: “Oppenheimer”, the summer work about the inventor of the atomic bomb, was “sold out every weekend”; “Barbie” also went well. Maiwald now has his sights set on “Dune II,” the postponed follow-up to the US science fiction series about a desert planet. Children can look forward to new episodes of the action animated film “Kung Fu Panda” and the fantasy comedy “Ghostbusters”.
At the first live opera broadcast before Christmas, the response could still be improved; Maiwald is pinning his hopes on January 6th, when Verdi’s “Nabucco” including the famous prisoners’ choir will be broadcast live from the MET to the Homburg cinema. 70 of 140 tickets were already sold a good week before Christmas. The cinema director is convinced that the special thing about hearing the instruments at the same time as the people in New York and seeing the musicians is attractive, which is why he wants to “advance the event character” in the cinema.
2023-12-27 23:07:31
#cinema
