Day One at Preston's Newest Cinema | The Projection Room

February 21st 2025 will go down as a landmark day for cinema here in Preston - for the last thirty years, film fans have either gone to the docks, or the out-of-town Capitol Centre for their big screen fix. But for the first time since the late 1990s, the city has its own prime, state of the art multiplex cinema, opened by the city’s favourite Bafta-winning son Nick Park CBE the night before (with Feathers McGraw statue to boot). So of course, I went digging around to profile what has already become a marquee development for the city.

Owned by Preston Council and built by the local Eric Wright Group, this isn’t the Council’s first attempt at bringing a cinema back into the city centre- the word Tithebarn always brings back bitter memories for any Prestonian, but since the ill-fated regeneration of that area of the city died a death in 2008, it has been a mission to create a premium leisure offering in the heart of the city centre, and especially in what is known as the Harris Quarter. In 2015, the first iteration of a redevelopment of the indoor market went before councillors, which was set to be a 12 screen venue not too dissimilar to what we eventually got - but a little thing called Covid made things a bit tricky. Years passed, the operator originally set to deliver the scheme backed out, we land in 2022, and a new version of the scheme was signed off, inspired by a similar development in Chorley - this time it passed all the political red tape and steelwork began to rise in the summer of 2023.

And that brings us to the complex now known as Animate. Anchored by Irish family owned chain The Arc, the complex also features the Argento Lounge, Taco Bell, Ask Italian, Hollywood Bowl, a street food hub and a 164 capacity car park (which provides 3 hours free for cinema users), this development has been in the planning for as long as this blog has been going.

Now a lot of readers will be thinking ‘who are The Arc?’. Well, here’s a small history - the independent chain began life very humbly in 2014, opening a six screen cinema in a shopping centre in Drogheda as a way to regenerate a shopping centre owned by the chain’s parent company Melcorpo. From then they’ve become a 13-strong circuit with six venues in Ireland and an ever expanding English complement of venues, from ‘classic’ sites refurbished to modern standards in Hucknall, Peterhead and Great Yarmouth to new-builds in Daventry and most recently Rotherham. Talking to Arc director Brian Gilligan and their marketing manager Mark Gallagher on the public opening day last week (alongside friend of the blog, Screen Rant and Blog Preston writer Ben Gibbons), there is a lot of pride around this new site on both Arc and cinema fans’ sides, with it being the company’s most significant new build of the company’s expansion so far. With this being their first foray into North West England, this is also a new market for Arc to learn about, especially with a wealth of competition in a highly successful Vue site, a middle of the ground Odeon, and the boutique Flower Bowl all on their radar.

For the Love of Film: The Facilities

The Arc have brought an 8 screen venue to Preston, kitted out with everything you’d expect for a cinema in 2025: self serve food and drinks, recliner seating as standard, 7.1 surround sound, and laser projection in all screens. Gone are the days of proper projection booths, such is the technology available to exhibitors - because they can legitimately put them into the ceilings of each screen. Capacity wise, the smallest holds 55 and the biggest standard screen holds 111 - there are two very special screens though, more on them in a minute. A lot of care has been put into the foyer area, with a seating area ideal for us critics who like writing their reviews up on-site!

They also put a lot of thought into the midweek offers too, from student ticketing for those who study up the road at UCLan, to things like Date Night Thursdays, Silver Screen, Second Chance Mondays (the perfect way to catch up with films that are about to conclude their big screen run) and a reasonably priced Family Ticket offering at £5.95 per person off-peak, but if their film launch events are anything to go by, I can only imagine what they’ll have in store for major Marvel launches. Plus for those of you of a certain vintage who miss hearing a certain bit of music before and after the adverts, yes, they’re with Pearl & Dean so the iconic Asteroid kicks things off for every screening.

Preston, Meet Premium Large Format: Welcome Hypersense

But undoubtedly The Arc’s USP, and the thing which I had been excited to test out on day one, is their Hypersense screen. Like a good bus service, just when you expect one to turn up you actually get TWO. Premium large format screens have become quite a big deal for cinemas in the modern age, you just have to look at things like Dolby Cinema, IMAX, and other chains’ offerings, and to finally have two literally on the doorstep is a major coup. Hypersense is the standard Arc screen specification, but turned up to 11. The same seats, but an enhanced 4K laser projector (standard screens have 2K laser projection), a wall to wall screen, and in the sound department, 45-speaker Dolby Atmos sound powered by no fewer than seven amplifiers. In layman’s terms, Dolby Atmos is true 3D surround sound, as not only do you have the speakers in the usual places… there’s also a few more above you too.

Screen 4, Arc Preston’s biggest, holds 169, and understandably this is the marquee Hypersense screen (seconded by screen 8, which holds 134), and on a movie like Captain America: Brave New World you can literally hear the difference - the extra capability offered to filmmakers with that height channel certainly allows for inventive sound design, and as every speaker gets its own individual feed there’s no reverb or delay like many other cinema screens. Hypersense does carry a £2 uplift but on the major films to come in 2025 like Mickey 17, Thunderbolts* Snow White, F1 and most of the blockbusters to come over the next 12 months, this is completely justified for the technology on offer.

SO IS IT WORTH IT?

In a word: yes. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea in terms of the comfort offered by the recliners, but to have a venue like this to add to an already thriving big screen scene can only be a good thing. Paired up with the wider Animate complex this cinema is off to a fantastic start - and in time it’s only gonna get more polished. Tickets under £10 for regular screenings, respectable food and drink pricing, warm and welcoming staff (both at cinema level and higher up) makes it a venue that 100% will be on the rotation of sites we use to bring you the film reviews here on TheJackSmit.com. The minute that coffee machine is plugged in, that cinema will be running as I like it - because no cups of tea were sadly available on day 1. Helps having an entire city centre next door though!

A huge thanks to everyone at The Arc for welcoming me in as a paying customer on the first day open - tickets are available from Preston.ArcCinema.co.uk.