Cinecittà Nuremberg
The Cinecittà in Nuremberg is one of the largest cinema centers in Europe with a total of 4,646 seats in 23 cinemas.
history
In 1970 Wolfram Weber opened his first cinema in Nuremberg with the Meisengeige , thus laying the foundation for his career. Further cinemas followed in the city area (Atrium Filmpalast, Casablanca, Metropolis and Manhattan in neighboring Erlangen ) until planning for the Cinecittà multiplex cinema began in the early 1990s. After the idea of a new building for the Nuremberg City Library with integrated cinema halls was rejected by the city for cost reasons, Weber decided to build a multiplex cinema at this point . The official opening took place in October 1995 (construction phase 1) and the Cinecittà developed into the most popular cinema in Germany. It turned out that the flow of visitors could not be managed without an extension. Therefore, the second construction phase was completed in 1997. In 1998 the decision was made to enlarge the building further and to build an IMAX cinema, which opened in 2001, after which Cinecittà was called "Megaplex cinema".
Overall, the construction cost an estimated 70 million euros and today comprises two entrance halls with 14 box offices, 17 regular cinema halls of various sizes (between 103 and 547 seats), a multifunctional hall (theater, cinema, discotheque), two DVD studio cinemas, four Restaurants, two shops and eleven bars . Furthermore, an open-air cinema and outdoor areas have been integrated into the building on various levels.
concept
Urban planning and cultural integration
The Cinecittà is located on the eastern edge of Nuremberg's old town in an architecturally difficult location. The cinema is surrounded by historical buildings, such as the medieval wall , the trade museum and the ruins of the Katharinenkloster . Therefore the building, which was designed by the architectural office Detlev Schneider, is designed with restraint. Only the two glass entrance pavilions can be seen. A large part of the first construction phase is hidden behind the building of the education center and can only be seen from the other side of the Pegnitz . A river promenade and a new bridge were created at this point. Urban squares have been created in front of the first entrance and between the Nuremberg City Library and the building of the former industrial museum . A large part of the building was laid underground, thus protecting the historic cityscape. There are three parking garages and many catering establishments in the immediate vicinity.
The Cinecittà is also part of the Nuremberg culture mile, which brings together various facilities such as museums and historical buildings.
architecture
From the outside, the actual size of the Cinecittà is hidden from the visitor. After entering the first ticket hall, the visitor is led down a curved ramp to the lower level. Only here does he get an impression of the dimensions. The building consists of several complexes that are interlinked and lead the visitor inside. The visitor has to pass a central foyer hall to get into one of the cinema halls. The Cinecittà is freely accessible and open on all sides through glass facades. The interior design is restrained and classically modern.
gastronomy
The Cinecittà has a coffee bar in both ticket halls. Instead of a central concession bar in many cinemas, the Cinecitta has several foyer bars, each of which provides drinks and snacks for visitors to the nearby cinemas. In addition to the bars, there are four restaurants, two of which are in a neighboring building.
Movie theaters
The Cinecittà has a total of 17 regular cinema halls, all of which have been designed according to the same concept. They rise steeply and the rows of seats are concave. The canvases are all curved and the seven largest halls are THX certified. The cinema technology corresponds to the international standards in terms of sound and projection technology.
Some cinema halls have special equipment. The multifunctional arena can be converted for various events, such as theater performances. In two studio cinemas, very small halls, arthouse and other, less popular films are shown in high definition on DVD . In 2013, Hall 16 , which had previously been equipped with Dolby Atmos , was converted into the first deluxe cinema with fewer, more comfortable armchairs and with drinks and snacks on site. It was followed by halls 14 and 15, so that these numbers are now missing from the numbering of conventional cinema halls; Numbers 1 to 13 and 17 remained, until 2014 there was a motion-ride cinema called MAD (Maximum Adrenaline Dose) . There the individual seats move simultaneously with the film. In the meantime it has become the fourth deluxe hall.
A major structural achievement is the completely underground Cinemagnum 3D (formerly IMAX ), which has 518 seats and is equipped with a 600 m² screen and an 840 m² dome screen (diameter 27 meters). The dome screen is no longer used due to a lack of films and technically difficult to implement projection. The building has a volume of approx. 20,000 m³ and a depth of over 32 meters.
Effects on the regional cinema industry
The success of the Cinecittà has led to profound changes in visitor behavior in the Nuremberg region. The mainstream film business today is very much focused on the cinecittà. Almost four years after opening, the Atlantik-Kino had to close, and the Admiral-Kino, which had been in existence since 1908 in the Königstrasse pedestrian zone, was forced to modernize. In 2000 the old building of this inner city cinema was demolished, two years later the Admiral-Filmpalast was reopened in a new building in the same place.
The Nuremberg multiplex cinema also had an impact on the cinemas in nearby Erlangen . Cinema-goers from Erlangen and the surrounding area increasingly drove to the cinema in Nuremberg. This trend only ebbed with the opening of a Cinestar multiplex cinema in Erlangen. The old Erlangen cinema landscape changed due to the strong competition of the two big cinemas, the UFA cinemas Schauburg and Glocken-Lichtspiele closed, the Lamm-Lichtspiele changed hands and were converted into a arthouse cinema. Only Weber's own cinema, the Manhattan, was continued and equipped with "multiplex-like equipment" (new, non-folding seats, new audio installation). The focus of the films shown shifted more and more towards art house cinema. At times, digitally projected travel documentaries from DVD were also shown.
Wolfram Weber is still owner of the aforementioned cinemas Meisengeige and Metropolis. Weber gave the Manhattan in Erlangen in October 2007 to Peter Zwingmann, the operator of the Erlangen arthouse cinema Lamm-Lichtspiele. The Atrium Filmpalast was closed on October 9, 2008 and the Casablanca on March 26, 2009 due to declining visitor numbers, but the Casablanca was renovated by a group of friends and reopened after a few months. The two other arthouse cinemas Meisengeige and Metropolis were converted to digital cinema projection in November 2008 and are still in operation.
The large catchment area of the city and the above-average purchasing power of the region also meant that the number of cinema admissions skyrocketed after the opening. In 2004, people from Nuremberg went to the cinema an average of 4.4 times, while the national average was 1.9 annual visits to the cinema. Of the 2.2 million annual cinema visits in Nuremberg, around 1.8 million go to the Cinecittà. Of these, around 270,000 visits can be attributed to the IMAX at the Cinecittà. In 2001 the cinema center welcomed its 10 millionth customer and six years later, on January 20, 2007, the 20 millionth. Almost exactly three years later, on January 10, 2010, the 25 millionth visitor was counted. Just eight weeks after opening, the IMAX set a Europe-wide visitor record (140,000).
Film festivals
The Cinecittà is the venue for the following international film festivals:
- Film Festival Turkey / Germany
- German human rights film award
- Fantasy Filmfest : International festival for science fiction, horror and thriller
- Middle Franconian Youth Film Festival
- Polish Film Week
Digital cinema in the Cinecittà
The premiere of the film Star Wars: Episode III - The Revenge of the Sith in 2005 meant that digital cinema in Germany moved into the consciousness of cinema visitors and operators. As the only cinema in Bavaria and one of nine cinemas in Germany, the Cinecittà had two digital 2K projectors from the British company Christie installed and took part in the European test rollout of the film. When 93% of the visitors opted for the digital version of the film on the opening weekend of the film, the Cinecittà announced that it would purchase additional projectors. A test installation in the IMAX showed that, according to the operator, projection onto the 600 m² screen is also possible without any loss of quality that is visible to the public. Films in 3D that are viewed with special glasses can also be projected. The introduction of digital projection went hand in hand with a price increase for digitally projected performances. The operator justified this with the high investment costs for the digital projection systems. In mid-2008 all cinema halls were equipped with digital projectors, which made the Cinecittà the first fully digital multiplex cinema in Germany.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information. Retrieved November 12, 2019 .
- ↑ Cinemagnum 3D ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on Rundkino.com
Coordinates: 49 ° 27 ′ 7 ″ N , 11 ° 5 ′ 0 ″ E