Cinema competition

The release of The Dark knight has seen cinemas nationwide be put to the absolute test with its enormity and sheer brilliance, every cinema everywhere has been sold out and continues to sell out all showings.

Because of this, I have visited three of the largest cinemas in Manchester to see this film and thought I would give you a low down of my experiences with all three..

Candidate ONE: The Odeon – Printworks Manchester City Centre

The Odeon has 20 screens, plus an amazing IMAX theatre, making this the largest of the three cinemas. The Location is obviously great, in the middle of the city centre, right next to the new Andale. The cinema itself is clean, and modern looking, with the screens panning out over three floors, plenty of concession stands, toilets and a bar. The food generally hits your wallet where it hurts, you can get sweets, hot dogs, popcorn and drinks to name a few. The ticket prices are pretty ouch too, as everywhere prices go up during peak times. The Odeon offers a gallery service too for £16 per ticket (peak) which includes your own seating area with huuuuge leather seats, free as much as you can eat popcorn, nachos and endless drinks and a few chocolates thrown in, you also get to go to the gallery bar to wait and are permitted to take alcohol into the screen – although unfortunately you have to pay for this! If £16 is too much you can pay an extra few quid to upgrade and sit in the premier seats! The staff are friendly and helpful although I have personally found that there is sometimes a lack of communication and two people can tell you two different things!!

Candidate TWO: The AMC Great Northern – Deansgate – Manchester city Centre

The AMC is located on Deansgate and is very accessible as it too is in the city centre. With 16 screens this too is a large cinema. It lives in a very posh building (which is home to the slowest escalators I have ever been on!). When you enter the AMC it has a very American feel to it, the box office is set out the same as the movie theatres across the pond are! There are many arcade games to play on whilst you wait too! The décor is a little old fashioned, well at least not as “modern” as the Odeon for example. But again, it gives a great kind of traditional feel to it! The staff are extremely helpful and very friendly indeed. The prices of tickets are cheaper by a pound or so here, ok so they don’t have an IMAX or the luxury of the gallery but does that really matter? Not at all! The food is more reasonable (although still not cheap) and really good value for money considering that you can get a FOOT LONG hotdog and when you buy a large popcorn or large soft drink you can get free refills on them until 10pm!!! BRILLIANT!!!!! The place is very well organized, and the screens are very clean.

Candidate THREE: Cineworld Didsbury – Parrs Wood Entertainment Centre- East Didsbury

Cineworld is located on the outskirts of Manchester in East Didsbury although is it very accessible by both bus and train (and obviously cars!). It is the smallest of the three but that is not a bad thing! It has 12 screens and again no IMAX or anything snazzy! Prices are reasonable again here, although the food is quite expensive if you don’t get the combo deals offered. It is £3.30 for a bag of sweets!!!!! The staff are friendly and try to be helpful, although you get the impression that they don’t know what they are talking bout sometimes and get very mixed messages! We asked one member of staff something, he allowed us into the screen to sit down and then the manger kicked us out saying we shouldn’t be in there yet!! It is nice any clean and there are both large and smaller screens. It is also more modern looking. It, like the Odeon can get very busy at times too.

And the winner is….
Overall I would recommend the AMC over the other two choices. Ok, so its not as fancy as the Odeon, but who cares? I would go as far as to say that this is a bit of a hidden gem in Manchester as most people flock in their herds to the Printworks. It is never over crowded unless a big time blockbuster like the Dark Knight has just been released. The prices are better and the food and drinks are 100000000% better value for money!